


You lit up the world for a moment (2)

by Gigi_Bell



Series: Drabble Collection [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Age Play, Age Warp, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Blood and Violence, Domestic Violence, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Gangs, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, M/M, Omega Verse, Past Child Abuse, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Revolution, Romantic Fluff, Seizures, Short Stories, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Supernatural Elements, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vampires, Violence, Wolf Pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 70
Words: 80,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25181419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigi_Bell/pseuds/Gigi_Bell
Summary: 💜1:Suggestions•2-9: Baekhyun meets his mate/ Chanyeol as the child/ version of The Tale of Time (🐺/Age Warp)•10-16: Baekhyun gets a wolf boyfriend (Human & Wolf)•17-21: Chanyeol gets used to a puppy (Hybrids)•22: Sing my way to you extra•23-30: Fostering isn’t for them (TW)•31-37: You’re always welcome in, Domestic Violence Fic (not between ChanBaek) (TW)•38-46: Baekhyun questions life when a runaway Noye shows up at his door (Dystopia)•47-53: Revolution on the horizon/ Where the lower class are treated as slaves (Revolt)•54-59: Chanyeols mate turns out to be feral, having never shifted into human form before (🐺 Feral)•60-65: Chanyeol the friendly demon (Soulmate)•66-70: A Little world (DDLB)💜 Third book is out 💙
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Series: Drabble Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839241
Comments: 337
Kudos: 490





	1. Suggestions

**Author's Note:**

> This work is solely mine, I do not allow stories to be posted on any other site, and any translations that are done will be posted here on my own page, I don’t allow my works to be posted under any other accounts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of these ideas are solely mine, if you wish to create your own versions or continuations, please ask permission.
> 
> *All of my stories are ONLY posted here on AO3, anywhere else is not ME!*

Hello!

I decided to create this chapter solely so people can leave comments of any ideas they’ve had! Or any ideas or concepts they think I could approach!

I promise to at least look over your ideas, but as always I will only do ones I feel comfortable doing! So no request is guaranteed to be done!

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️


	2. Chosen (ABO/Age Warp)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baekhyun just wanted to take care of someone, it wasn’t supposed to be his own mate, but he’d never complain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this here too so maybe I’ll be motivated to add to it!
> 
> PS, just as in the note on this posted in Drabble Collection one, I’m not going to explain how the age thing works, so please refer to the first one.

  
Baekhyun loved his job, he really did.

But working as a designer didn’t really have him doing much but staying home and eating his time away when he wasn’t drawing up sketches or looking at cloth patterns.

So, he’d taken up this idea at the suggestion of a few of his friends.

Originally, he had laughed at the idea and cackled in Minseok and Luhan’s faces for even suggesting such a thing.

But then he had gotten the _same_ suggestion from Kyungsoo and Jongin and knew he needed to at least _consider_ it.

_Just go take a look, Sehun is such a sweetheart, Baekhyun. There’s a ton more kids out there that need a place, even if it’s temporary._

Minseok and Luhan were foster parents.

Everyone knew of that because their recent addition was a small alpha boy and he was adorable to say the least.

The toddler ran around at the speed of light and left chocolate stains all over Baekhyun’s pants when he visited, but he was still _cute._

So cute the couple were adopting the sweet kid. 

Baekhyun was really happy for them, he truthfully was, but their happiness kind of dragged him down further in the sense that everyone around him was happy except himself.

He’d already accepted that he wouldn’t find a mate.

He was a twenty six year old omega for fucksake and had yet to even feel a thing for an alpha or beta - hell, he’d even be elated to have another omega as his mate at this rate even though it wasn’t possible.

Baekhyun would be lucky if a place allowed him to adopt anyways - as an unmated omega sometimes things were pretty iffy. 

Especially given his age.

So, now he was standing outside a child fostering agency with an appointment and nearly regretting it already because he felt so ridiculous.

But Baekhyun was just _so_ unhappy in his life right now.

And it had nothing to do with stress, money, or work.

It was just _everything_ to do with his own loneliness and envy.

“Hello!” 

Baekhyun smiled kindly and wiped the rain from his coat as he walked up to the desk, “Hello, I have an appointment. It’s under Byun Baekhyun.” 

The beta at the counter gave him a once over before turning to type, “It’s not often we get omegas in here.” 

“Yeah, well,” He clicked his tongue and looked around at the dim entryway, “I don’t think my status should really matter, I love kids and I’m willing to foster.” 

She hummed in acknowledgement but didn’t bring up his status again since it was obvious he was a bit defensive, “Let’s see.. did you bring proof of funds? I heard they approved your house given safety locks were added.” 

Baekhyun gave a nod and pulled out a paper from the inside of his coat, “Here are my bank statements for this past month, I asked what _exactly_ I needed to bring, but I wasn’t quite sure.” 

The woman’s eyes widened before she typed a few things and turned to place the paper into a filing cabinet, Baekhyun could practically see the cogs turn in her head and the moment she stopped _assuming._

Just because he didn’t have an alpha didn’t mean _shit,_ but everyone was always quick to assume it did.

“Okay. Follow me to the back.” 

Baekhyun chewed his lip nervously, hoping he didn’t feel too bad if he walked out of here without a child, he didn’t want to give the kids too much hope, but he also couldn’t just take them _all._

Luhan’s pep talk about it just came back to his head now: _don’t feel bad if you don’t choose one the first time. Don’t just pick one out because you feel bad, because a lot of those kids.. they’ve been bouncing around families forever and it’d hurt to be sent back again._

It wasn’t exactly a pep talk now that he thought about it, because it was pretty sad.

Either way, Baekhyun was already wondering what the fuck he was doing.

“This is the daycare room, it’s where most of the more.. _needing_ children come.” 

Baekhyun had _no_ idea what that was supposed to mean, but he knew this did not look like a daycare and as soon as the door opened he could hear high pitched wailing and shushing.

In fact, all of the toddlers in the room were screaming and fighting with each other, a staff member was trying to calm them down, but _obviously_ something wasn’t working.

He couldn’t _handle_ a screecher - crying was _expected, they_ were only children, but one of the omega girls was screeching at such a high frequency he thought his eardrums would burst.

“Jisoo, let’s come meet this nice man.” He heard the woman coo at one of the little boys but Baekhyun cringed at the boys wailing.

He sidestepped as a little girl went _blasting_ across the room to a toy box and his hip bumped into what he thought was a rack of some sort.

It wasn’t and Baekhyun was quick to have his heart speeding up.

It was a baby in a little rocker.

The child looked too big to be in it still, his legs hanging off the edge and not wearing anything but a diaper with a finger in his mouth.

That _wasn’t_ what caught Baekhyun’s attention though - it was an afterthought.

The baby alpha had a head of dark black hair and eyes shaped like almonds with a sharp nose. 

And he smelled like fruit.

It was a rare scent for an alpha, but Baekhyun _wasn’t_ going to point that out because he had something much more pressing.

The little boy was his _mate,_ and he was the only one not crying in this entire room, kicking long legs over the edge of the rocker and reaching a little hand towards him almost like he _knew._

Baekhyun could nearly _feel_ the moment his aging halted when he knelt down to give the baby a hand.

The alpha released a small squeal and was moving his fingers from his mouth to grab Baekhyun’s fingers with both hands and pull, adding his little toes into the mix like some sort of monkey and trying to pull out of the rocker he was strapped into.

“That’s Chanyeol, he's not up for fostering, he's had five homes already.” 

Baekhyun didn’t _care,_ he was unstrapping the baby instantly and wondering how long the alpha had been strapped inside. 

“He’s up for adoption then?” Baekhyun asked, standing up with the alpha, “And where are his _clothes,_ everyone else here has clothes. It’s too cold. He’s a _baby,_ where are they?” 

He didn’t know if the woman noticed his ferocity and _understood_ what was going on, but was quick to open the door and lead him outside again.

_“ ‘I!”_

“Hi, sweetheart,” Baekhyun cooed, nuzzling into the boy's hair, “You want to come home with me?” He asked, following the woman into the lobby.

“Chanyeol had five homes, each brought him back because they said he was too much of a hassle.” 

The omega nearly scoffed because the baby literally wasn’t doing much more than chewing his own fingers when he’d walked in and still he wasn’t doing much but wiping slobbery fingers over his neck. “How old is he?” 

“About one and a half, his parents died in a car crash.” 

Baekhyun was ready to coddle the little alpha already, on the spot, but was quickly distracted when the woman pulled out a onesie from behind the counter to pass over avoiding eye contact.

“Let’s put some clothes on, pumpkin, you must be so, so cold.” Baekhyun crooned, walking over to a softly padded bench by the window to lay the alpha on.

Instantly the baby was ooing and pointing at the rain on the window but didn’t fuss at all at Baekhyun slipping the clothes on him and zipping it up under his chin. 

“Is that cool, Chanyeollie?” He cooed, sitting the alpha up in his lap, “It’s _so_ cool, huh? Baekhyunnie is going to take you home today too, that’s so cool too!” 

He hadn’t gotten the paperwork filled out and was getting ahead of himself, but there was no way he was leaving without the baby.

Chanyeol gave a grin that scrunched up his nose and showed a dimple on his cheek, Baekhyun could count how many little teeth he had.

_“Yay!”_

“Yay! That’s right!” Baekhyun laughed, kissing his cheek.

The baby squealed a noise of excitement and clung onto Baekhyun’s arm, wrapping both of his arms around the omegas and hiding himself under the arm so only his eyes peeked out from under Baekhyun’s armpit.

“Monkey,” The omega teased, pinching a little toe through the onesie. 

“His file is here, I need you to sign these papers,” The woman at the desk called.

“Can you walk, pumpkin?” Baekhyun wondered, setting the alpha onto his feet and holding his hand, “There you go! Look at you!”

Chanyeol could walk perfectly, but Baekhyun made sure to hold his hands tightly because of the fabric under the alphas toes instead of shoes.

He was a jumper and gave big jumps and looked up at Baekhyun everytime, mouth wide open in a huge grin waiting for acknowledgement.

Perhaps it was too early to assume, but Baekhyun was sure the baby wouldn’t be a hassle at all.

Baekhyun was still overly annoyed about the alpha being only in a diaper when he walked in despite it not _really_ being the staff's fault, and he’d make sure to check the baby in better lighting when he got home because he wondered how long Chanyeol had been strapped in.

He was just worried after all the horror stories he’d heard of these places.

 _“.. ‘I!”_ A little hand tugged on his pants while Baekhyun was looking over and signing things and he smiled, finishing the page he was on and kneeling down to pick the baby up, “Can you say ‘up’? You tell Baekhyunnie ‘up’ to be held, Chanyeollie, can you do that?” 

Chanyeol babbled some noise that sounded _somewhat_ similar, but it was mostly a handful of _uh_ noises.

He was still so cute Baekhyun couldn't help kissing his little nose.

“We’ll do a wellbeing check about two weeks from now, and technically the paperwork doesn’t go through for a while, but… there’s a policy given how bonds work.” 

“So I can take him today?”

“Sure, we can get his cloth-“

Baekhyun didn’t even let her finish and wrapped his coat around the alpha, tucking the baby under with him and Chanyeol seemed to think it was really funny and giggled into his collarbone.

But the omega didn’t care for whatever cheap things they had for Chanyeol and knew it would probably only piss him off _more_ to see what little the alpha had.

He was out the door instantly, running to the store just across the street.

If Chanyeol cared about leaving he didn’t show it and just sniffed everywhere, including into Baekhyun’s shirt experimentally. 

The shopping carts were a bit rain covered so Baekhyun _struggled_ to take his coat off inside the store doorway to lay it into the seat before setting Chanyeol in.

 _“Oooo ah! Wah!”_ The alpha cooed and pointed around at basically anything he saw as he was pushed in the cart.

Baekhyun would be sure to check Chanyeol's file that was sitting in the damp cart later because the alpha didn’t really seem to be a problem and he wanted to know why the alpha had been given back so many times.

Maybe because he wanted so much attention - but that _wasn’t_ an issue at all - it was just a baby wanting _love,_ and it wasn’t a _hassle._

“Which colors should we get, Chanyeol? Hm, my little monkey, you want red or blue?” Baekhyun wondered aloud pointing to car seats despite knowing the baby really could care less and was more interested in trying to reach behind him for the baby snacks Baekhyun had practically cleaned off the shelves.

Well, sucks to suck for whoever comes to the baby aisle after him. 

He hadn’t been expecting to get a baby so young, he’d been more prepared for someone older, maybe a seven or eight year old.

This was perfectly fine though, even if Baekhyun knew it would be a bit more work.

“Let’s get this one…” He whispered, grabbing a grey car seat with rainbow stripes on it. 

He didn’t care if Chanyeol was an alpha, and some would say it was best to have him get more _masculine_ things, he was still a baby and there was nothing wrong with liking more colors than stereotypical black or red for an alpha. 

Chanyeol grunted a small noise and Baekhyun laughed as he looked down and saw the baby chewing on the sleeve of the jacket that was tucked under his bottom, chewing on it excessively and flopping it back and forth. 

Baekhyun snorted, “You hungry?”

_“Yesh!”_

“Smart boy!” He cooed instantly, leaning over to kiss Chanyeol's forehead, “My smart boy, so good, you’re such a good baby.” 

Chanyeol squealed and was obviously riled up at the attention, tugging Baekhyun’s cheek and popping his head up so fast his little nose hit Baekhyun’s rather painfully.

Baekhyun’s nose throbbed a small bit from that, but Chanyeol looked really happy just pressing their noses together and murmuring incoherent noises, so he was happy too.

Baekhyun had a feeling they were going to be really happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far, I know I have three other scenes written, but I am not 100% that I’ll make it a mini series and actually write into their lives like I did in the Baekhyun Baby Version because I feel like it would basically be the exact same ideas as the original, but there’s a bit written! 
> 
> I just wanted it posted here that way I had room to add more to it, because I know everyone likes these AU’s


	3. Monkey (ABO/Age Warp)

Baekhyun had been completely correct.

Chanyeol was _not_ a hassle.

Sure, the alpha was energetic - he seemed to have endless amounts of energy.

But nothing that would make Baekhyun consider even for a second that he needed to give Chanyeol back.

In fact, he’d just gotten approved and signed the official adoption forms.

He already knew they would approve it after hearing they were mates - there was nowhere safer for a baby than with his future mate, so they really hadn’t even looked around.

But that also could have been because he pointed out that when he’d _gotten_ Chanyeol the baby had a couple of little sores on his bottom.

He had his friend Yixing check them out and he said they could have just been bug bites, but when Baekhyun asked if they could be diaper sores the doctor said they _could_ have meant Chanyeol had gone a bit long in a diaper too small for him.

It wasn’t exactly abuse as some people had trouble fitting babies for diapers, but Baekhyun _suggested_ along those lines.

They of course denied such a thing, but had quickly left after checking the house this morning.

Baekhyun knew they wouldn’t overlook him for just being an omega again, because he had even gotten an offer from his friend Jongin to come by and pose as his alpha mate just because they knew it would seem Chanyeol had more “protection,” whatever the hell that was supposed to mean - Baekhyun could protect them both _himself._

“You know what this is, pumpkin?” Baekhyun cooed, carrying a baby gate into the living room, “Huh? Mister monkey? What is it?”

Chanyeol giggled and gave a toothy grin from his spot in his red Elmo rocking chair that sat by the tv.

_“Baba!”_

“I’m right here!” Baekhyun soothed, peeking back around the entranceway from the kitchen into the living room, “Baekhyunnie is here, it’s okay.” 

_“Baba ‘I!”_ The baby cooed, climbing from his chair.

“Hi, you act like I don’t see you twenty five hours a day!” The omega cried, kneeling down to lock the gate, “Chanyeollie and Baekhyunnie just play so much, right?”

He glanced at the baby making his way over before turning his back to start gathering food, “You want to go to the park tomorrow? I can fit my little alpha into my schedule.” 

_“Baba!”_ The baby yelled, delivering a hit to the gate.

Baekhyun snorted because they’d been working on a _Baekie!_ Or even a _Bae,_ anything close to his name really, but Chanyeol was adamant his name was Baba. 

“Baba is making lunch, monkey, you’re going to miss your show.” 

Another hit was delivered to the gate and Baekhyun fondly rolled his eyes and turned around with a slice of banana to walk over.

Chanyeol had a rather grumpy look on his face, all scrunched up, and hanging on the gate, giving it a yank when he noticed Baekhyun paying attention.

He looked like he was in baby jail, Baekhyun mused.

“What? You want to fight, punk?” He teased, getting down onto his knees on the other side and tugging Chanyeol's ear, “Gate stays up, Chanyeol, you know I might accidentally step on you if you get in the way.”

And because he didn’t want the baby to get into things, but Chanyeol wouldn’t understand that even if he was smart.

_“Baba uh!”_

“You won’t even say up please?” Baekhyun tsked playfully, placing the slice of banana into Chanyeol’s hand, “You just worry about your nana and Sesame Street, Yeollie.” He added, pinching to alphas cheek.

Chanyeol did stuff the banana half into his mouth to chomp at it messily, but as soon as Baekhyun was about to stand back up he grunted really loud and started using his entire body weight to shake the gate.

The gate was on there really strong, and Baekhyun was glad to have taken that recommended brand of gate from Luhan because if not Chanyeol would be toppling over onto his back right now and potentially smacking his little head.

The alpha didn’t throw fits, but he did get grumpy when Baekhyun tried to do things and he couldn’t see what was going on.

Chanyeol was curious, but also just intent on being Baekhyun’s shadow and constantly on his tail.

But he really didn’t cry, usually only when he had occasional nightmares like every baby. 

The alpha was just so cute and Baekhyun _already_ was dreading how fast the alpha was going to be bigger than him, he already was a big boy.

_“Uh peaz!”_

“There’s my good monkey!” Baekhyun exclaimed, snatching the baby over the gate to coddle, “So nice, that's so polite, you’re going to be a very nice boy, aren’t you? The sweetest alpha?” 

Chanyeol beamed and nodded despite not understanding what _polite_ was and was getting slobbery banana all over Baekhyun’s hair when he pulled at the strands in his happiness.

At this rate Baekhyun was going to be _bald._

Well, he hoped Chanyeol in the far future would like a bald omega then, because it would be his fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all draw conclusions that Baek calls Chan monkey... and adult Chan has a monkey tattoo irl... hmmm.... maybe I thought that through...


	4. Purr (ABO/Age Warp)

Baekhyun had been staring at the same design he’d drawn on his iPad for the past hour.

Something about it just wasn’t quite right, he couldn’t figure out what it was and was sending just about a million screenshots to his coworker Jongdae.

Chanyeol had been busy on the other end of the couch sprawled out and being completely amazed at the light up shoes Kyungsoo had brought over for him, he’d refused to give them up all day.

Not that the omega really tried to force him to get rid of them, he wasn’t doing any harm and they were brand new so who _cares_ if the baby put his hands all over them.

It wasn’t like he was trying to chew on them or anything, he just was smacking them into stuff and watched them light up with an _ooowah!_

_“Baba?”_

Baekhyun hummed before wincing at Chanyeol walking over on the couch, reaching over to put an arm out just in case, “Yah! No standing on furniture!”

As normal, the other just gave an impish grin and tossed himself at Baekhyun’s chest, _“Bababababa!”_

“Yeah? That’s a nice story.” 

Chanyeol giggled and started tugging on Baekhyun’s shirt, wiggling to be let go of and the omega did let go of him with a snort and sat back normally, grabbing his iPad from the arm of the couch.

It was really hard to concentrate with a twenty something pound baby clawing and stomping on him, but Baekhyun was getting fairly used to it.

The little alpha was just so clingy, but he _was_ his mate and Baekhyun knew Chanyeol probably just liked the way he smelled and was instinctively grabby.

It didn’t explain the alphas' excitement when he got to see any of Baekhyun’s other friends though, Chanyeol just liked people a lot.

Baekhyun had even been a bit afraid that Chanyeol would be mean to Sehun when the other was brought over for a play date, because he had _just_ gotten new toys and it was understandable if Chanyeol didn’t want any other kids touching his things.

Instead though, Chanyeol had started dumping the toys at Sehun feet with a hopeful look he’d play with him.

It was so cute nobody dared to correct when Chanyeol called his toy spaceship a _cawr._

“Ouch, ow! Easy with Baba, Yeollie,” Baekhyun scolded when the baby had a hand latched in the back of his head and yanked really hard.

Chanyeol made a small whimpering noise and plopped his head down in the back of Baekhyun’s neck, at this point half on his back like he wanted a piggy back ride and half sitting on the back of the couch.

“I know. I know, but you gotta be a little easier.” 

_“Sowy.”_

“That’s okay,” Baekhyun sighed, reaching up to pet the alphas' hair over his shoulder, “You tired? Are you being a sloth now? You’re just every animal, aren’t you? Baekie’s baby monkey _and_ a sloth? You’re on a roll, pumpkin.” 

Chanyeol laughed a tiny bit and pressed his nose into Baekhyun’s skin.

The omega smiled and pet his head a few times before looking at his iPad again, twisting his lips irritatedly again.

It wasn’t that he was on a deadline or anything, but it was just so frustrating to be stuck on one thing - especially when said thing was what you were good at and what usually was supposed to de-stress you.

_“Baba?”_

Baekhyun hummed at the whisper.

Only a moment later there was a noise vibrating at his spine that made every single muscle in his body relax, all the way down to his fingertips.

A soft, quiet purr of a noise against his shoulder.

He hadn’t ever heard Chanyeol's soothing purr, and it was deeper than the baby’s voice, but likely due to the fact a purr never changed, it would _always_ sound exactly as it did now - like it came straight from his stomach rather than his throat, like it had _depth._

An alphas purr was always _special,_ it could calm nearly anyone down, but Chanyeol's was so nice, so calming and Baekhyun knew it was because of their bond he felt that way, but that didn’t make it any less true.

“My sweet alpha,” Baekhyun whispered, turning his head to kiss the fluff of hair he could reach which mostly was just the tiniest bit of Chanyeol's head. “You know Baek is stressed out? My smart monkey.” 

Chanyeol didn’t say a word but continued to purr with wide eyes blinking at Baekhyun’s head, pressing his slightly snotty nose to the omegas shoulder and pajama shirt, just looking around with wide curious eyes.

He always seemed to do that, just _look,_ observing everything.

“Let’s take a nap, Chan, what do you say?” Baekhyun asked, tossing his iPad onto the floor and reaching under his arm to pinch the dangling foot that was covered in a Cookie Monster onesie, “Chan and Baek naptime?” 

_“Baba me?”_

“That’s right, pumpkin, Baekie and Yeollie.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you have over 50 pre written chapters and want them all out bc you’re impatient but can’t bc that takes away the point in having all of them sitting in drafts but you’re just too excited and want everyone to read them 🤡


	5. Grow (ABO/Age Warp)

Chanyeol was being rather odd today.

The alpha woke up in an extra good mood all giggly and wide eyed as he rolled over and pummeled into Baekhyun’s chest.

Baekhyun didn’t know what the toddler was so excited about but he loved it just the same.

“Oh thank you, pumpkin,” Baekhyun held in his laugh and accepted the ballpoint pen Chanyeol was bringing over.

The toddler stood on his feet with a wide smile as he watched Baekhyun add the pen to the pile of miscellaneous items beside him on the chair. “Baek…” He pouted after a moment, scrunching his hands up into Baekhyun’s pant leg.

The omega snickered and leaned over to place a kiss to the alphas cheek, “There you go, monkey, run off!” 

Chanyeol beamed and spun on his toes to run down the hall.

Baekhyun had zero clue what the alpha was up to today. Ever since he’d matured Chanyeol had been much less _clingy_ in the sense that he didn’t tug Baekhyun’s hair, but he’d been a lot more needy for affection.

He wondered if it had something to do with Chanyeol's school, but it wasn’t something that started when the toddler started kindergarten, but something that had _only_ started this morning.

What a weirdo.

Said weirdo was _already_ stomping back from down the hall, face slightly red and holding a cloud shaped pillow over his head as he puffed and huffed in exasperation and stormed over with a huge grin.

Baekhyun _swore_ the alphas room was going to be torn apart at this rate - he’d only _just_ upgraded his crib into a bed too. 

“Little alpha,” Baekhyun snickered and grabbed the pillow before Chanyeol and his lanky legs when plopping over as it was much bigger than the toddler and was usually used as a makeshift bed when they had sleepovers with Sehun.

It was a big pillow.

“Strong, I know. You’re a strong boy- come over here!” 

Chanyeol squealed when Baekhyun reached out to yank the toddler onto his lap, the room filled with loud laughter as Baekhyun tickled his stomach and then forced the toddler into a ball so he could cradle him like a baby.

He was afraid one day he’d wake up and not be able to pick Chanyeol up at all anymore, and that both scared and made him proud. 

“What are you doing today, pumpkin? You giving me all your things?” Baekhyun asked, rocking him back and forth.

Chanyeol sent him a smile and pressed his cheek into Baekhyun’s chest with a giggle to himself.

It sounded so conspiring Baekhyun wanted to pry but the chances a toddler had any ulterior motives other than maybe trying to be extra sweet and get candy later was very low.

“It’s almost like yo-“

Baekhyun stopped himself short, petting Chanyeol's hair and swallowing thickly.

Truthfully, he didn’t know what exactly was going to happen. 

None of his friends had a mate so young, none of them were forced into this situation or had to wait up for their mate to grow. 

He didn’t _know._

Maybe he’d ask Yixing about it and hope the doctor would know, because there was no way Chanyeol was trying to court already.

Perhaps it was a smaller version of it, an instinctual want to give him things and Chanyeol - since he was a baby - really didn’t understand it and was just throwing anything he saw at him.

That made sense, Baekhyun felt their bond too, it led him into Chanyeol’s room to make sure the toddler wasn’t having a nightmare all the time.

It was what made him start giving Chanyeol vitamins even though he knew the alpha was perfectly healthy, and it was also the reason Baekhyun didn’t have the heart to tell the alpha no if he had a big watery look on his face.

It just _happened,_ and it didn’t mean anything other than Chanyeol felt their bond and that he _knew._

“You're a smart boy, huh?” Baekhyun whispered, sitting Chanyeol up to hug him, patting his small back, “Your teacher told you? Did she say that we were very special together?”

_“Sayed be good alpa for mate.”_

Baekhyun sucked in a breath and squeezed Chanyeol tighter.

He was positive the alpha didn’t understand - and if the school had taught Chanyeol _anything_ other than that they were a very special pair then he would be _pissed_ because he was still only a child.

But the big thing was just that Chanyeol was going to _know,_ and he knew Chanyeol knew, and in a year or two he wouldn’t have a baby on his hands anymore and instead would have a teenager who _would_ learn what being mates entailed.

Right now, as far as Chanyeol knew he probably thought _Baekie and I are very very good friends and he takes care of me._

But in years it _wouldn’t_ be what the alpha was thinking at all.

Baekhyun wasn’t scared, but he was upset.

“Don’t grow up too quickly, Chanyeol, okay? Please stay my monkey forever, pumpkin.” Baekhyun requested irrationally, pressing his nose into Chanyeol’s neck where the scent of fruit was strongest.

The alpha patted his back in a _there there_ sort of motion and Baekhyun would call up Minseok and scold him for teaching Chanyeol to be so weird, but right now he was just upset.

_“Will be wittle for Baek!”_

It was a lie even if Chanyeol didn’t know it was, because the alpha was already so big. 

Baekhyun wasn’t ready to let him grow up quite yet, but he would be one day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, it’s funny that I literally do not read DDLB, but I reread my DDLB MAFIA AU from the first book and forgot how cute Little stories are oomph.
> 
> Legit, like if I had more ideas I’d do them, but I’m all squeezed out of ideas for DDLB!


	6. Guilt (ABO/Age Warp)

In the past two years, he and Chanyeol didn’t fight much at all.

And in the past all it had been over was maybe the child leaving toys out and Baekhyun tripping over them, or when the alpha wanted to join the basketball team but Baekhyun had forgotten to buy him a uniform for it.

Both of those were easily solvable things - Baekhyun got Chanyeol a toybox to place in the hallway that had stars on it so the baby was quick to use it because it was pretty, and Baekhyun had gotten Chanyeol an even nicer outfit than the rest of the team members just to suck up to him.

Even then, Chanyeol didn’t really yell or argue, he normally just got teary eyed when he realized he’d upset Baekhyun or he would tell the omega why he was upset with him and then _sulk_ until Baekhyun made it up to him.

Never had Chanyeol made it feel like it was ever Baekhyun’s fault for his sadness or otherwise teary eyes, but things had been tense lately.

Baekhyun knew why, he knew Chanyeol did too - but it seemed he’d hit the last straw with the alpha now.

He knew so because the texts from the alpha were all kinds of pissed when Baekhyun had finally gotten the energy to check his phone this weekend.

To say Chanyeol was pissed Baekhyun had left for the weekend and not told him was an _understatement._

Baekhyun supposed he really did deserve the anger, even if he _couldn’t_ control it.

“You _stink.”_

The omega flinched as he shut the door behind him, swallowing thickly and instantly feeling apologetic even though he shouldn’t _have_ to.

He couldn’t control it.

“I know, Chanyeol.” 

“I don’t think you do.” 

Baekhyun sighed and looked at the teenager that sat on the couch, wondering if Chanyeol spent the entire weekend waiting for him even though he had asked Kyungsoo to stop and check on him. 

But Chanyeol's eyes told him he’d been waiting all day at least, and they weren’t puppy eyes anymore.

In general, the alpha was too big to ignore even if Baekhyun _wanted to._

Chanyeol was tall and broad, strong shoulders and a narrowed glare, Baekhyun hadn’t ever seen a look pointed at him before.

“I do, Chanyeol, I stink, I _know.”_ He repeated, dropping his keys onto the shelf beside the door, “Go do your homework, you have school tomorrow.” 

“That’s it then?” Chanyeol scoffed, “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“What do you _want_ me to say?” Baekhyun frowned, “I’m sorry and I’ll take suppressants next tim-“

“I want you to admit that you just went and had an alpha have sex with you through a heat with a mate at home!” Chanyeol yelled, jumping to his feet and accusationally pointing. 

Baekhyun flinched twice as hard and licked his lips because he _couldn’t_ deny that.

He just set his coat on the back of the couch and saw Chanyeol push it off with a scrunched nose as Baekhyun walked towards the kitchen.

But he didn’t say a thing.

“You’re stinking the entire _house_ up, Baekhyun.” He heard Chanyeol add, and felt terrible because it was unfair of him to come in here like this and force Chanyeol to smell another alpha on him, but he hadn’t a choice and he wasn’t going to just leave the teenager to his own devices that long.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Baekhyun whispered as he grabbed a water from the fridge, “Chanyeol, I can’t help it and you know it. Please stop.” 

“So who was it then?” 

“I’m not telling you that.” 

“So it’s someone I know.” 

“Stop!” Baekhyun barked, gritting his teeth, “Let's get one thing straight, Chanyeol! You’re still a teenager, I’m the adult here! As long as you’re still maturing then I’m in charge! I’m not going to sit here and listen to this! What did you _want_ me to do? Sit here and suffer? It _hurts, Chanyeol!_ You want me to go through that?” 

“I’m your mate! I could have helped you!”

Baekhyun _actually_ laughed then, tears springing to his eyes, “You haven’t even gotten a rut yet, you’re a teenager.” 

Chanyeol’s face dropped and Baekhyun knew it was rude to point out, but he was the one being scolded for just trying to get _help._

There was no way he was touching or even doing _anything_ sexually with Chanyeol so long as the other was still growing.

It didn’t _matter_ that Yixing said the teenager was so close to maturing, Baekhyun wasn’t doing a thing with him despite Chanyeol being so blunt about wanting him.

The boy had been blunt ever since he’d _learned_ about heats months before, and Baekhyun thought it was mostly cute Chanyeol was really flustered about it, but not a thing about what the alpha was doing was _cute_ right now.

Baekhyun was already feeling bad enough.

“Fine,” The alpha said, angrily kicking Baekhyun’s coat more towards the door and the omega knew it had to reek and he should have just left everything outside, “Go take Yifan as your new mate then, see if I care.” 

Baekhyun dropped his head and should have known Chanyeol could figure out who it was.

“Monkey, it didn’t mean anything.” Baekhyun promised tearfully, “You're still my mate, Chanyeol.” 

The alpha looked at him with red, tear filled eyes and shook his head, “No. You will _always_ just see me as a kid.” 

“Tha.. that’s not true,” The omega mumbled, voice shaking, “I’m just waiting for the right time, Chanyeol. You’ll know when the time is right, okay? Okay, alpha?” Baekhyun whispered, coming around the island to cup his face, “You can be my alpha, Chan, just not _yet.”_

Chanyeol laughed, but tears were trailing down his face and Baekhyun knew the alpha was heartbroken right now, but it didn’t change that he was still just a teenager. “Stay little, right?” 

Baekhyun hugged around his waist instead because he knew the tone Chanyeol used to be one that meant he was either going to turn into a sobbing mess or run away and hide. 

“It’s really not fair,” Chanyeol's voice cracked and his arms hung limply at his sides, “When you love someone and they only see you as a kid.” 

“Ch-“

He didn’t get to finish as the alpha was unraveling his arms and turning to walk down the hall with his hand over his nose.

Baekhyun sniffled and felt his body shake with guilt.

He wished he hadn’t forgotten to take his suppressants.


	7. Past (ABO/Age Warp)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn’t think I would need to address this as with the previous stories I’ve had, but I’m only asking everyone to please be kind. Do not personally attack anyone, criticism about stories or asking for explanations is fine, and I welcome those comments.
> 
> I know a lot of you readers have been around for quite some time and I hope you know I do actively try to respond as quick as possible to your comments or questions, but I’m only human and this is not a job, this is a hobby, a stress reliever if you will. 
> 
> I’m just one person and I do have feelings and I try to relate and correspond with my readers a lot especially during this tough time where many of you are stuck at home, like me, but after writing a lot of things a day and between sleeping and eating I don’t have time to respond but I do READ AND APPRECIATE any single comment I get. 
> 
> Even if I don’t receive comments I still continue updating, as I’ve often gotten caught up in my own impatience because I am genuinely excited to share new content with you all, and proud to say I’ve even hit 80 prewritten drabbles, so I always have things to post daily for you all.
> 
> Please be kinder, I’m only one person.

“I kissed an omega girl today.” 

That wasn’t what he was expecting to hear out of Chanyeol's mouth as soon as the alpha got home from school, standing in the doorway of Baekhyun's room still dressed in his practice outfit.

Baekhyun just sucked his lip between his teeth and blinked away from the mirror that hung above his head, looking back down at his laptop.

He knew what Chanyeol was trying to do, and it _hurt,_ but he had the right to do so.

They’d barely even spoken in a week, mainly just seeing each other in passing in which Baekhyun walked out to a plate of food sitting on the table for him, but no Chanyeol.

That hurt too.

“She’s really pretty, my friends told me I should ask her out.” 

Baekhyun’s heart jumped and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You know, since you have Yifan now I don’t really think I need to be here either - Luhan said I could stay with them if I wanted, said Sehun would like some company.” 

The omega scrunched his face up and ran a hand through his hair until it rested against the back of his head, swallowing back tears. 

He _knew_ Chanyeol was just being immature, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt because he _had_ cheated on the other in a way.

And they weren’t even together yet.

That was a lie depending on how you saw it because they’d been _together_ for years. 

Chanyeol had known for so long and Baekhyun hadn’t _meant_ for things to be like this right when the alpha was nearly graduated, matured, ready to mate.

He’d been able to suppress his heat for years, but his body knew that Chanyeol was growing older and had _reacted._

Of course he’d called someone to help him, and he only had one unmated alpha.

It didn’t help that he knew Chanyeol was aware that he and Yifan used to date too.

 _Long_ before Chanyeol was even born. 

“Guess I’ll go _pack_ then,” The alpha spat.

Baekhyun released a sob, nails digging into his desk chair as he spun around and leaned over his lap to press his forehead into his knees.

He was nearly hyperventilating now, and he didn’t want to be alone again.

It’d been _years,_ but he could still remember how sad he’d been, how lonely it was to have nobody but himself at home.

How he spent hours staring at his own designs and talking to _himself,_ because that’s all who was there.

Friends could only keep you company for so long until it started to feel like you were being too clingy.

“Ch-please, please don’t. I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry, sorry - alpha, I’m sorry!” 

Baekhyun couldn't catch his breath and he hadn’t cried this hard in so long, not since he’d gotten a call that Chanyeol fell from the swings when he was less mature and fractured his arm. 

Even _then,_ the alpha had been so happy to see him.

A hand touched his arm and Baekhyun nearly fell to his knees to jump at him, arms circling Chanyeol's shoulders and sobbing loudly, a screech like noise from his chest that hurt every time he took an inhale. 

“Fuck, Baekhyun. Baek, I’m sorry.” 

It didn’t help that the omega could barely hear him over his own crying.

Chanyeol picked him up so easily, taking a seat right on the ground and settling Baekhyun on his lap, “Sh, Baekhyun. Calm down, I’m sorry - I’m sorry, I’m not. I was.. was just trying to make you mad, baby, I’m sorry.” 

Baekhyun didn’t respond at all until he felt the soft rumbling against his cheek and went limp, his entire body shoved into a tight ball and curled at Chanyeol's chest to hear the noise.

It didn’t make him _forget,_ but it made him relax.

“I’m not leaving. How could I? I wouldn’t, you know that, Baekhyun.” The alpha whispered, face contorted with nothing but guilt as he pet Baekhyun’s head, “I love you, I love you and I’m not leaving you.” 

“Love you,” It was nothing more than a squeak and sounded almost incoherent as Baekhyun clutched Chanyeol's top.

The alpha still smelled a little like sweat, expected after his basketball practice, but it didn’t stop Baekhyun from nosing after his neck anyways. 

“It.. it just really hurts,” Chanyeol whispered, pressing his face to Baekhyun’s hair, “We’ve been.. together.. so long and then you just…” 

They didn’t need to talk about what he’s done again, but Baekhyun knew it was _so_ unfair to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol, who knew they were mates since he was a toddler and had even bragged about it to all of his friends, came home to tell Baekhyun all about how his friends thought he was pretty but it was _too bad_ because he was Chanyeol's.

And he _is_ Chanyeol's, he’d just made a mistake, panicked by the thought of having to withstand burning for two days.

Chanyeol wouldn’t fully understand until he had a rut.

Maybe then he’d fully forgive Baekhyun.

“D-Didn’t mean anything,” Baekhyun sniffed, sitting back to wipe his face with his sleeve, “I love _you,_ Chanyeol. I love you only and I don’t have feelings for Yifan, I swear. He knows, I know - it’s _you.”_

He could see Chanyeol's jaw clench just at the mention of the others name and felt the guilt dig deep into his stomach. He also knew Chanyeol probably wouldn’t ever be able to look at the alpha again without starting something and it was completely disgusting of Baekhyun to have come home drenched in the alphas scent.

The truth was as soon as his heat broke he’d been so upset at the scent on himself too that his instant reaction was to try and find _Chanyeol_ to replace the dark woodsy smell with something fresh and sweet like strawberries.

Now he realized things would have been handled much more maturely if he would have at least showered first, cleaned up.

“I’m hurt, Baekhyun. And I hurt you and that’s not okay either.. I-I don’t think you’re… a whore or anything, I just.. don’t want you with someone else.” 

“You don’t need to worry about that,” The omega said instantly, laying both hands on Chanyeol's jaw, “I’ve been yours, I’m always yours, monkey. I made a _mistake,_ and it’s never happening again when I have an alpha right here, at home, and waiting for me in a pair of basketball shorts with a huge smile that I _love_.” 

Chanyeol’s lip quirked up a bit, a dimple popping out on his cheek, “Yeah?” 

Baekhyun laughed under his breath, “Yeah. Love you so much, Chanyeol. I guess.. guess I’ve always been scared of.. change. You just always looked so happy when you were little, anything I did just.. you’d accept it so easily, I.. took advantage of that, the trust you had in me. That’s not okay, and I’ll spend however long it takes to make it up to you.. just.. please don’t say you’ll leave m-“

The alphas lips were on his instantly, cutting Baekhyun off mid sentence and already having parted the omegas lips to slot them together. 

As expected, Chanyeol tasted of fruit, fresh fruit. 

And as Baekhyun draped arms around Chanyeol's shoulders he realized the other definitely was no child anymore. 

He hadn’t been in so long. 

Baekhyun had been too caught up in the past to even consider the alphas feelings about their situation, he _had_ taken advantage of their positions - with one of them having raised the other Baekhyun considered himself to be a bit more in charge.

That wasn’t fair when Chanyeol had ideas of his own, feelings of his own.

They’d just work things out as they went instead of trying to hold onto the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I’m really sorry guys, but anonymous commenting is no longer available for this story, please PLEASE comment on a different story if you’d like and I’ll be more than happy to give you my email or send you an invite to join (I think I have 8 codes? I’m not sure how that works!) but I still do want your guys’ feedback and to speak to you all, I’m really sorry but I didn’t want to completely block guests from reading at all but for my mental health I cannot just keep getting guests bashing me. ♥️


	8. Love (ABO/Age Warp)

“- Baekie, look! Panda!”

Baekhyun hummed and smiled at the cashier as he grabbed the bag of snacks, tugging Chanyeol's fingers, “Yeah? How cute, Yeollie, are you going to play nicely with Sehun today? I bought you guys snacks to share.” 

The little alpha gasped, looking up at him from about Baekhyun’s knee level, a sucker sticking out from the side of his mouth, “Can give.. my truck?” 

The omega snorted, “Sure. But we’re going to meet at a park, remember? We didn’t bring toys, just food.”

“Oh! No!” The other cried, shaking Baekhyun’s hand in his own and getting big, watery eyes, “Hunnie loves truck!”

“Hunnie also loves  _ Chanyeollie  _ and he is here so it’s enough,” Baekhyun chirped, if he had a free hand he would pinch Chanyeol's cheek too, but he was busy waking them to the park across the street. 

Once they were at the park safely, Baekhyun started pulling out their bundle of food, taking a seat on a picnic table and eyeing Chanyeol who was sitting across from him, kicking his feet out with a small sucker in his mouth, looking around the park with sparkling eyes.

“You can go play, pumpkin, I’ll just stay here and wait for our friends.” 

Chanyeol looked like he wanted to go play, but he only scrunched his nose up with a rather wet sounding sniff - it reminded Baekhyun to take Chanyeol shopping for some new winter clothes before things got too cold. “Will wait with Baekie!” He exclaimed.

“Hm? It’s fine, really, little alpha. You can run along, can see you wanting to go,” Baekhyun shrugged.

“No. Don’t want my Baekie to be alone! Don’t want you get sad!” Chanyeol cried, standing up on the metal bench on the other side.

Baekhyun stopped short of puncturing a juice box for the little alpha.

Chanyeol just knew everything, didn’t he?

Even just a kid and he was so good at reading their bond - that or he was just observant.

Because Baekhyun really did hate to be alone, he  _ did  _ feel sad when he was alone.

Of course, he was only referring to such a thing as the long term of being alone, Chanyeol going to play on the playground within his eyesight  _ wasn’t  _ the type of alone Baekhyun would consider saddening. 

A clanking noise snapped him out of his thoughts and he was rolling his eyes at Chanyeol throwing his leg over the tabletop and rolling over on top, climbing around with a small excited jump.

“Hey, who said you could do that?” Baekhyun scolded, tugging on Chanyeol's pant leg.

The little boy gave an excited grin and jumped on the metal table once more - Baekhyun was highly aware of the other parents looking at him judgmentally for letting Chanyeol climb on things - then, Chanyeol was laughing and putting his arms out.

Baekhyun laughed even though he should scold the little boy, groaning under the weight as he picked Chanyeol up to set him beside him. “You weirdo! You don’t have to climb things to get to this side, you just walk around, Yeollie.”

“Here now!” The boy giggled, fingers all sticky as he grabbed onto the metal just to stand up again.

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun was readying to scold him again, but Chanyeol just was standing there to wrap sticky hands around his neck.

He wasn’t doing anything bad, only hugging, and there was nothing wrong with hugs. They were greatly encouraged even.

And Chanyeol had a lot of hugs to give. 

“You love me extra today? Is it because I bought your favorite fruit snacks?” Baekhyun joked playfully, hugging around Chanyeol's stomach with one arm. “Or because you just love me?” 

“Hug is for love super much.” 

“That’s right, my sweet alpha,” Baekhyun grinned, turning to kiss Chanyeol's round cheek, “Hugs  _ are  _ for people you love a lot.” He agreed. 

The alpha smiled toothily, rubbing his nose into Baekhyun’s cheek and only sitting back to accept a drink from the juice box that was placed in his mouth.

Chanyeol plopped down onto his lap a few seconds later, obviously tired of standing, but he continued to hug on Baekhyun so he  _ obviously  _ wasn’t tired of giving lots of love.

The only issue was that Chanyeol was getting so big, causing Baekhyun’s thighs to protest a bit at the pressure.

But it was  _ fine,  _ Baekhyun wanted to be able to hold the other a little longer anyways, because before long he wouldn’t at all.

“Want to gib you all the hugs.” 

Baekhyun smiled fondly and kissed Chanyeol's hair, “Yeah? I want to give you all the hugs too, Chanyeollie.” 

“ ‘cause.. ‘cause love you super much!”

“I love you super much too, sweetheart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been looking up DDLB prompts, NOTHIN’
> 
> In the meantime I’ve been looking up ABO ones too... 
> 
> What are your favorite AU’s??


	9. Happy (ABO/Age Warp)

Baekhyun released a small squeak when he felt a pressure over his back, arms trapping him against the counter.

Normally he’d be freaked out about the sudden warmth at his spine when he was home alone, but not when the scent was so strong.

“Chanyeol..” He whispered, trying to turn around but his hips were pressed tight against the counter.

The omega licked his lips nervously at the feeling of the other nosing down the side of his neck.

“What are you doing?” He whispered, his breath was higher pitched than normal and breathy.

Because the alpha smelled _so_ strong.

Baekhyun covered his nose with one hand - not because he didn’t like it, but because he liked it too much - “Did you just get home, monkey?”

“Got a position on the University Team.” 

Baekhyun gasped, pushing the bowl of pasta that he had been making away from him and trying to wiggle again and see Chanyeol's face but the alpha released a growl that had him laying his head down on the counter instead, eyes dewy in a haze. “Congrats- are you in rut?” 

“Don’t know,” The other answered simply, trailing his nose down Baekhyun’s spine, “Just know it’s _really_ hot and you smell _so fucking_ good, Baek.” 

Maybe not rut yet, because if he was he likely wouldn’t be taking his time to feel Baekhyun’s hips and just pressing into him - he’d be vicious and throwing Baekhyun into the first thing he’d see to mate, in this case the counter.

“Really proud of you, Yeol,” Baekhyun whispered in a near tired tone, sighing when a kiss was placed onto his shoulder, “Go lay down and I’ll be there in a second.”

 _“No,”_ Chanyeol growled, nipping at his jaw and Baekhyun swore his eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head as he whimpered. 

He whined louder when hands gripped his hips and spun him around, now his lower back pressed into the counter as Chanyeol was busy scenting his throat now, tugging his shirt to move it down more.

“Attacking me - so quickly?” The omega tried to tease but it was mostly just air, “Let me feed you first, Chanyeol. You don’t know, you’re not going to want to eat once it hit-“

“Want to eat _you.”_

It was too much, Baekhyun’s knees went weak and within a second Chanyeol was placing him on the counter and hugging him to his chest, giving an approving purr and brushing lips over his.

“Baek, Baekhyun, you’ll be mine, right?” Chanyeol continued, “No more excuses, I’ll be a grown alpha - you want me? Can I have you?” 

The alpha knew better by now, he should know that their stray kisses meant everything even if they _never_ amounted to anything but exactly what they were - kisses. 

Even then, Baekhyun had been a bit nervous of continuing to give out kisses after the first time - he’d assumed Chanyeol just had been upset and vulnerable.

But the alpha really deserved his attention in that way, especially given what Baekhyun had put him through.

To say the next time Yifan and Chanyeol saw each other at a friendly dinner with all their friends was _awkward_ was an understatement.

Chanyeol had been nothing but snapping at him and holding Baekhyun, showing off in a predatory show.

Baekhyun knew it made Yifan upset because he cared for Chanyeol too, he liked the alpha since he was a kid and even used to play basketball with him because Chanyeol was obsessed. 

But he wasn’t about to intervene and tell Chanyeol to stop it because then it made it seem like he was on the others’ side - there _were_ no sides, Baekhyun needed help and Yifan had been there. 

Chanyeol would understand once he went into a rut - even if he’d never speak to Yifan again.

It was okay so long as he didn’t hold it over Baekhyun’s head, the omega would probably rip someone’s face off if Chanyeol said he’d slept with someone else too.

So it wouldn’t be fair of Baekhyun to be upset over his behavior - instead he was just glad his mate wasn’t the aggressive type or else he’d have a horrible situation on his hands. 

“Baby, I-it’s really hot, it’s so hot in here,” Chanyeol huffed against his throat, skin clammy and a light pink.

Baekhyun had never had an alpha in rut on his hands, maybe it would cheer Chanyeol up if he told him he was the only alpha he’d ever helped through a rut - he was sure it would - but he didn’t expect it to make the alpha seem so.. _pretty._

If that was even the word to describe the lost, doe eyed look he was being given and the fast racing of Chanyeol's chest against his, the alphas hair starting to stick down onto his forehead even though he wasn’t dripping sweat.

“Go to bed,” Baekhyun requested softly, pressing his cheek to Chanyeol's affectionately, “Love you, go lay down and I’ll be _very_ quick.” 

_“No-“_

“You want to have me right?” He whispered, petting Chanyeol’s neck, “If you want me, you need to lay down so I can prepare myself. You don’t want to hurt me, right? I’m not in heat, Chan. I need to prepare myself or you’ll hurt me.” 

Chanyeol looked way put off at the accusation, “Never hurt you.” He said, scrunching his face up in irritation.

“You _will_ in a little if you don’t listen, monkey. Trust me,” Baekhyun cooed, pecking the corner of the alphas lips, “You’ll be overexcited, I’m _overexcited,_ really happy, Chanyeol, so let’s make it very nice. So happy, waited a long time for you.” 

The alpha smiled, glossy eyed as he pressed a firm kiss to Baekhyun’s lips, hands holding onto the omegas thighs so tight Baekhyun knew the rut was influencing him and soon he wouldn’t be in control at all.

But Chanyeol always listened, especially if it had to do with something Baekhyun knew more about.

“I love you.”

“I love you, punk, so go lay down,” Baekhyun laughed, shoving the alphas shoulders even though Chanyeol was already stepping back _very_ reluctantly, “Really proud of you, Chanyeol. You can have me, monkey.” 

It was almost sad how Chanyeol's eyes and smile were exactly the same as when he was little - still glistening brown and a dimple that popped out on one side more than the other, red lips pulled into a wide grin. 

Baekhyun could nearly remember that same look on the baby’s face when he tried to reach out for him with his little round face and button nose, ears that curved through his hair cutely.

Sometimes Baekhyun hated how things changed - hated that he didn’t get to see Chanyeol as much with the alpha spending so much time practicing, and soon would be _working_ on a basketball team (he would congratulate and give him gifts for his accomplishment later).

But even when Chanyeol wasn’t home while Baekhyun was it was okay because the house smelled a mix of chocolate and fruit - of them both - and the alpha left clothes scented like him everywhere he knew the omega liked to be like he _knew_ Baekhyun would miss him.

Chanyeol had just always known, Baekhyun knew it from the moment he got a big smile from the baby.

Things always changed, but that didn’t mean they weren’t just as happy as before.

Maybe even happier, in fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s your favorite au type? 
> 
> (By that I mean like soulmate, ABO, DDLB, vampire... in general)


	10. New (ABO/Age Warp)

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun sighed for the millionth time, “Monkey,  _ no.”  _ He stressed, storming around the island to fix the buttons closed awkwardly around the alpha chest, missed spots.

“I wish you’d stop with the baby nicknames.” 

“You’re my baby,” Baekhyun argued, fingers swiftly fixing the tie, “And this is an important event, you’re the one that said you wanted to check foster homes, we have to look nice so we can take pictures.” 

“You’re my baby.” 

The omega snickered and went to move away only to be swiftly caught around the waist and when fingers tapped up his neck he parted his lips for a firm kiss instantly, palm cupping the light stubble on the alphas jaw.

When Chanyeol had graduated, getting a job so quickly on a basketball team left very little time for them.

In the past two years, they spent any time they could together when Chanyeol wasn’t busy as a rookie on an important team.

It had been the alpha that noticed Baekhyun’s depression before even the omega did. It had been Chanyeol that noticed he was sleeping days away and his designs were coming together so slowly, that the smell of food cooking was no longer happening when he got home from practice.

Baekhyun had grown lonely again while he was away, and it wasn’t something Chanyeol had to witness before, and there were certain things that made them happy in life.

For Baekhyun, it was to take care of someone.

It was the one thing the omega had always been happy doing, but Chanyeol was an adult now. An adult with a job that meant he couldn’t stay at home with him all the time, and hiding between four walls all alone took it's toll on Baekhyun.

_ Why don’t we go check a foster home, like the one you found me at, Baek?  _

It was a good suggestion, and they’d gone in for a quick peek as they were not ready to have a baby yet - not when Chanyeol had so little time, they didn’t want to find a child so young. 

Unfortunately, what they hadn’t expected was to fall in love right away.

A little omega boy that dragged a lion bear all the way into the waiting room as they filled up papers, his hair like a bowl on his head and he didn’t seem to have qualms at all about them being strangers as he ran into the waiting room with a loud,  _ hungy!  _ And peered through his hair at them.

The girl behind the counter began to freak out as the toddler took it upon himself to climb into Chanyeol's lap and Oo at his tattoos, plopping his toy down onto Baekhyun’s lap and giggling,  _ mistew wion. _

It wasn’t even a choice, they requested his paperwork immediately, but unfortunately they couldn’t take home little two year old Kim Taehyung at first sight as Baekhyun had Chanyeol. 

It wasn’t ideal to have such a young reliant toddler, it wasn’t what they’d spoken about, but it was what it was, and Baekhyun had only fallen in love this fast one time in his life, and for Chanyeol it was probably the first to experience this kind of affection for something so small, because the alpha didn’t even whine when the boy cling onto his ears and hair.

The secretary tried to separate them, but Taehyung was a clingy thing and wasn’t going anywhere. 

At least now Chanyeol had something equally pressing to come home to, the same feeling that Baekhyun was happy to say kicked his ass out of depression. 

Chanyeol wanted to experience the feeling Baekhyun had when he was young, the alpha had admitted he wanted to not be seen forever as a child - although Baekhyun didn’t see him as such - and wanted to try parenting before they had their own children.

Baekhyun had a buddy to help him pack things and go on the road for Chanyeol's games, to wave flags in the stands for him.

Too attached so soon was a bad thing, but after three visits with the toddler and the springing tears that began when they had to leave without him were hard not to grow attached to, and that wasn’t Baekhyun’s maternal instincts kicking in.

Because Chanyeol had none of those and was the one calming him down and promising that  _ soon  _ he could come see his room.

And soon it was.

******

“Nervous.” 

“It’s not that heart racing,” Baekhyun laughed, leaning over his seat to kiss Chanyeol's cheek, “We already have him, alpha. Let’s take him to pick out his things - just across the street at that little shop, do you remember that?” 

Chanyeol deadpanned, “Baek, I was a literal baby, of course I don’t remember that.” 

Baekhyun pouted and leaned onto his shoulder, “An omega can hope, you know.” 

“But I  _ do  _ remember you’re an amazing parent,” The alpha cut in swiftly before Baekhyun could dig a deeper pout, “I remember more than you think I do, baby.  _ Still  _ I find it hard to recall some things, but I remember you doing your best and that’s enough. And it’s going to be enough for Taehyung too.” 

“Yeah?” Baekhyun asked with a slight smile coming to his face, “I worried a lot. Things aren’t how they were when you were little. I can’t calm him down as fast, you can’t, we don’t have a bond-“

“That’s how parents raise  _ children,  _ we can do it,” Chanyeol whispered, turning to kiss his forehead, “We can. We’ll need lots of practice; he’s young and that wasn’t  _ ideal,  _ but you said I chose you - Taehyung chose us, it’s only fair.” 

Baekhyun sighed and kissed his covered shoulder, nuzzling into the coat for a good minute to calm down to his scent, Chanyeol seemed to deem his idea a good one as he rested his lips onto his hair also and clutched his fingers.

Then, the storming of toddling feet came and they pulled away only to witness a toddler with a backpack bigger than him on his shoulders, a ragged lion between two small, pudgy fists, and a rectangular grin. 

“Hi, sweetheart.” 

“Hi!” Taehyung squealed, sounding more like  _ I  _ rather than hi, his shoes lighting up as he danced around. “I go home you?” 

Chanyeol only needed to stand up and the boy was rushing to grab his pants, tugging and tugging until he was up onto the others chest and hugging his neck.

“Let’s go, monkey.” 

Baekhyun snorted at the nickname Chanyeol had chosen, tangling his fingers into the back of the alphas shirt and smiling at the little crescent like eyes smiling at him over the alphas shoulder, “Two monkeys now? I must be in for a whole jungle at this rate.” 

“Tae, tell Baek I’m no baby; you’re the baby now.” 

_ “I baby, Baekie!”  _

“That’s right, you’re the baby, sugar.” 


	11. Dog (Human & Wolf)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If it barks, it’s a dog, if it bites it’s a werewolf - or Baekhyun, a human, because his boyfriend rubbed off weird habits on him.

  
Baekhyun would much rather be in his bed than where Jongdae was bringing him.

The _stupid_ fairy was the worst company given that he needed merely an hour of rest before being up for literal weeks.

Creatures had _such_ a better life and it made Baekhyun sigh in envy.

When he was younger, people used to see him as a supernatural and he’d gotten so used to it that most of his friends were creatures.

The very sad and unfortunate part was that he, in fact, was _not_ a supernatural.

People would ask if he was a siren, because of his features, they’d ask if he was a hybrid of some sort because people said he looked like a puppy breed, they asked if he was part angel.

He was sure the last was mostly a pick up line because he was close friends with an angel, and Baekhyun had none of the innocence needed to fall in that category and it was obvious by his obnoxiousness.

Baekhyun was simply a human.

What a _boring_ type of creature. 

“Baekhyunnie! I _told_ you! You’re going to be surprised! The new barista is like completely your type! Swear!” Jongdae repeated for what felt like the millionth time today, dragging the human down the street with a hand clamped upon his wrist.

If the fairy wasn’t completely a crybaby, Baekhyun would yank his wings to make him stop, because he was _pissed._

First of all, who woke someone up at five in the morning on a Saturday, and secondly, Baekhyun was _barely_ dressed.

Literally, he was still wearing his pajamas, dressed head to toe in light grey striped pajamas and random tennis shoes on his feet.

He felt fucking ridiculous, but Jongdae was right in yelling at him that nobody was there when it was just opening and cooed he looked _adorable._

Baekhyun was still grumbling though.

“-really! I think he caught your scent yesterday when I came because he asked me about a _thousand_ times if I smelled like vanilla! But that’s stupid because anyone can tell I’m a fairy and I smell like flowers!” 

“What?” Baekhyun attempted to yank his hand back but Jongdae grip was extraordinarily tight, ignoring him and pulling him. “Hey! Hey! What are you talking about!” 

Jongdae sent an explosive grin over his shoulder, shoving Baekhyun through the glass door of the cafe, “You’ll see!”

The human groaned, awkwardly shuffling on his feet when Jongdae shoved his wallet at him and cooed that he’d find them a seat. 

_Fucking ridiculous._

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the stupid fairy and briefly wondered if he should call Jongdae’s boyfriend Minseok to scold the shit out of him.

“Hello! Welcome in!” 

But, it seemed he was too late, because his favorite waiter already spotted him. 

“Sehun, hey,” Baekhyun greeted, “How’s Junmyeon?”

Sehun was a rather attractive man, well, it was normal given being half vampire, but he was always kind even if he didn’t speak a lot.

Baekhyun and Jongdae came here _way_ more than needed so they did turn into those weirdos that knew the staff's names.

“Oh, he’s good, he’s out of town right now for a water spirit ceremony, I’ll let him know you asked. Have you met our new sta-“

Sehun laid a hand on Baekhyun’s arm, turning to steer him towards the register, but the noise that rang out was nothing short of a _growl._ A literal, fully fledged snarl, and the vampire was ripping his hand away as fast as lightning. “Hey! Chanyeol, I didn’t know!”

Baekhyun also _didn’t know_ what the hell was happening, all he knew was the new barista was fucking _fine._

Fuck, he was suddenly forgetting he must have looked like a toddler that was dragged out of bed and late for school because a flirtatious grin pulled across his lips.

The man - _Chanyeol,_ his mind supplied - was huge. His eyes were narrowed, but Baekhyun could picture how huge they’d be when he stopped glaring across the room at Sehun, that was _hot,_ but what was even more attractive was the few tattoos visible on the man's arms, the river of dark brown curls sitting on his head, and the tribal necklace sitting on his collarbones.

God, Baekhyun wanted to get this man out of the ugly grey work uniforms and play dress up (and maybe something more) because he would fucking _die_ to see this man in a skintight t-shirt and a SnapBack.

He wasn’t even sure what creature he was looking at, because the growl was definitely too animalistic to be human, but he really didn’t even _care_ because god this man could ask him to do _anything._

Baekhyun found his weak knees instantly, probably rushing the counter with _way_ too much desperation, but he’d be damned if he didn’t at least shoot his shot with mister eye candy.

“Hello! Hi, I’m Baekhyun!” He chirped, preening as he leaned over the counter on his elbow, pretending not to notice that he embarrassingly shoved the tip jar to the side in his rush to attempt to flirt.

Baekhyun was always a good flirt, but his skin felt like pins and needles right now.

“Uh, uh-“ Chanyeol reached up to scratch his neck, and it only made Baekhyun take notice of the redness of the man's ears, and he wasn’t even sure the man was breathing at this point.

Cute.

“-Chanyeol, yeah- um.. yeah, hello.” 

“Hello, hot stuff, can I get two americanos?” 

Fuck, this man had to be the most adorable thing he’d ever seen because Chanyeol went to type it into his screen, hit the touch screen so hard that the screen tilted and whimpered a noise similar to a puppy when he looked to see if Baekhyun noticed.

Of course he did, but he only sent a beaming grin, tapping his fingers on the counter before smirking, “Are you on that menu too? Because I’ll take _all of it.”_

Chanyeol turned a flaming red color, so red Baekhyun nearly felt bad for putting him on the spot so much, but the man kept staring at him so he was positive that he thought he was attractive too.

“I… I can be!” 

Oh god, Baekhyun’s heart was so adoring because the man looked like he could throw him over his shoulder, but flirted like a horny teenager. 

He never thought he was into running around the bush but he _would_ if he got so much as a hug from the man.

“I’ll have those out.. really fast!” 

“Oh? But my card-“

“I got it,” Chanyeol shook his head quickly, not acknowledging the card Baekhyun put out. “I-it’s on me.” 

Sweet and hot, this had to be a fucking crime. 

Baekhyun chewed his lip, attempting to find something else to flirt over without blatantly screaming _I’m single as fuck, please pin me to a wall._

Instead, he heard the door open behind him, the small bell ringing to signal another customer and pouted his lips, “Thank you.” 

Then, with a pink face, turned to speed walk over to Jongdae's table, a huge pout on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest and sunk into the booth with a huff.

Jongdae promptly kicked his ankle to which Baekhyun whined and kicked him harder, “Stop! I’m angry!”

“I can tell, kitten. You need some milk or something?”

_Only if it’s Chanyeol's._

“Register hottie couldn’t talk anymore! Stupid customers,” He groaned, laying his head down on the table, “Thought I was about to get his-“

“Might want to keep it down,” Jongdae snickered, snatching his wallet from Baekhyun’s hand, “Good hearing, you know, his breed.” 

Baekhyun’s face reddened more and he didn’t have the heart to turn and see if he was overheard because he really didn’t care if Chanyeol thought he was desperate, because he _was._

“What breed?”

“Werewolf.” 

He raised his brows, sitting up on his elbows to make sure Jongdae wasn’t fucking with him right now, “No way! Then I don’t have a _fucking_ chance!” 

Because werewolves didn’t get to choose relationships, not like Jongdae, Yixing, Sehun. They _imprinted_ and that was something Baekhyun couldn’t possibly try to get in the middle of even if it’s not a romantic imprint.

He was very needy and knowing his boyfriend had someone more important in mind, well, that was _not cool._

“Wipe that look, your hottie is coming this way.” 

And sure enough, Chanyeol was, holding two drink cups and ducking his head to look at the floor.

It was completely unfair that someone so devastatingly attractive looked so nervous, even the cups were shaking as he put them down.

Baekhyun wouldn’t even try to lie and say he didn’t try to brush their hands together as he launched his towards the cup.

“I hope you enjoy.” 

And there it was again, a nervous tinge to his tone, running a large hand through his hair and fiddling with his apron, but he was still standing there, so Baekhyun supposed that said a lot.

“I’d enjoy it more if you stayed,” Baekhyun bubbled out.

Jongdae hissed under his breath a _you're unbelievable,_ and Baekhyun promptly kicked his ankle twice as hard.

“I- I get off at three..” 

Baekhyun perked up, watching the way Chanyeol flushed and his nostrils flared, he was curious about the way the man leaned more towards him.

_Was he smelling him?_

“Perfect!” Baekhyun cried, “I’ll be here!”

“I can.. pick you up.. I-if you don’t mind it’s.. I don't want you walking by yourself,” The werewolf flustered, scratching over his tattooed arm that Baekhyun was dying to get his hands on.

He heard Jongdae cut in with a _that's a good idea, Baekhyun looks like a kindergartner now. I’ll make sure he wears actual clothes._ And didn’t even care to defend himself because Chanyeol was staring at him and he had gorgeous eyes.

“I think… it’s really cute,” The man fumbled out promptly turning scarlet and then mumbling under his breath and turning to speed away. 

Baekhyun grinned triumphantly even when Jongdae snorted, “You two are fucking awkward.” 

“Guess who’s going to get a boyfriend,” Baekhyun giggled, “Finally.” 

Jongdae didn’t have much to tease him about there, because he knew how lonely the human really was and smiled, shaking his head and turning to dig in his bag, “Shut up and write down your number for your dog.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m debating on writing a little story again - if I do, do you guys prefer a gender dynamic play Baekhyun, like dresses, called princess, pink etc? Like in the DDLB mafia! 
> 
> Or just him fitting into “normal” standards of gender as like in the DDLB vampire one? Just normal nicknames and outfits for a “boy”
> 
> It’s going to be a universe where littles are common knowledge, like some people are just littles so it is a known thing, I know you guys liked the DDLB so hopefully I can figure it out!
> 
> Also! How much is TOO much? Like bottles/sippy cups are cute, but when is it TOO MUCH?


	12. Flirt (Human & Wolf)

Baekhyun did go get his  _ dog. _

Well, technically Chanyeol had gotten him, and he was ready to pass out on the spot when the man pulled up and was dressed just as Baekhyun had wanted in a tight t-shirt, black SnapBack and fucking  _ joggers.  _

Were they soulmates or something, because Baekhyun felt it was entirely unfair for someone to be so much his type.

“Hey. I wasn’t really sure if you were.. picky..” 

Chanyeol’s car smelled of pine and fresh air, Baekhyun wondered if he got close to the man if he’d smell like that too. 

“I like literally anything as long as there’s meat involved. Please tell me we’re going somewhere with meat,” Baekhyun begged cutely, leaning over the center console with a pout, “Chanyeollie, please feed me a lot of meat.” 

His flirting was raising the bars because he had swiftly gone home and spent hours making himself look like a five course meal, only pausing to text Chanyeol a million times and surprised to get responses so quickly back because the man was working.

_ Bad boy.  _

Baekhyun giggled at his own thought, watching Chanyeol attempt to look at him but focus on driving, he was probably a safety hazard, but the werewolf looked more than happy to multitask.

“Baekhyun, I need to tell you something first, because.. I.. I don’t want you to think I’m like.. keeping you in the dark.” 

“God, it is legal to say my name like that?”

Chanyeol burst into surprised chuckles and Baekhyun lit up, pulling his hand off his seat to lay on the middle arm rest, smiling as invitation.

He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been on a date, let alone with someone he met only five hours ago and felt like he needed to kiss the life out of already.

Baekhyun was somewhat relieved Chanyeol looked like he had a lot of time to calm down versus his nerves at the cafe, because he would get pouty if the man shook every time he tried to hang on his arm. 

Chanyeol accepted his hand with nothing short of a relieved breath, large hand covering his own and Baekhyun probably looked like he was plotting something with all his quiet giggling.

He couldn’t help it, because he was so excited and felt so warm, happy. 

_ Was this normal? _

Supernaturals were odd, so he really blamed Chanyeol for making his chest pinken and feel like he was under a spell of some shit.

“Are you a witch?”

“No. I’m a werewolf, full breed.” 

Baekhyun’s lip perked up and he curled up into the seat like a kitten, holding Chanyeol's fingers, “How odd, is it fair to make me feel like this?” 

“Trust me,” He heard Chanyeol mumble, “Whatever you feel I feel it  _ much worse.”  _

He chose to ignore it because it was more of a whisper and didn’t seem like he was supposed to hear it, so he hummed under his breath, turning to look out the window and watching trees pass by.

Baekhyun had half a mind to ask if he was about to be left in the woods, to be attacked by animals - or wolves - but he didn’t know what sort of humor Chanyeol had yet, and didn’t want to seem offensive.

He had a feeling Chanyeol would find it funnier than anything though.

“I’m taking you to a diner, it’s just a little up the mountain,” Chanyeol sounded slightly nervous, and Baekhyun squeezed his hand because there was no reason to be nervous when you looked like a  _ god,  _ “First. I want to tell you something. Can I?”

“Mhm,” Baekhyun murmured, “Tell me in a very deep voice, I’ll get chills.” 

The noise that Chanyeol made was somewhere between a whine and a pained one, Baekhyun nearly felt bad until he looked at the man and saw his jaw was tight and fists clenched, but it wasn’t with annoyance.

Baekhyun hadn’t meant it so sexually, but if chanyeol  _ wanted  _ it to be that way then he really couldn’t complain if the wolf fucked him right here in the car.

He had a feeling Chanyeol wouldn’t anyways.

“Damn, you’re making it really hard to concentrate.” 

_ What else is really hard?  _

“I’ll be nicer then!” He cooed instead, grabbing Chanyeol's hand in both of his, “I’m listening, Chanyeol.” 

Chanyeol licked over his teeth and Baekhyun only then realized they were parked when the werewolf turned to give his attention to him.

“I don’t know what you know about werewolves. But, I’ve been smelling you in your friend for  _ days.  _ It was driving me insane, Baekhyun. Yo- you must not know what it is, but i  _ do _ , and trust me, it’s not something I can choose - it’s not something that just.. goes away if I ignore it.”

“You’re being really mysterious, mister wolf.” 

Chanyeol snickered, removing his hand from Baekhyun’s to lean over the seat and rest his palm directly over the humans head.

Baekhyun supposed it was his turn to be a nervous wreck because Chanyeol was in his comfort zone.

“Are you smelling me?” He asked instead, laughing under his breath, “You’re totally smelling me right now!” He accused.

The werewolf only grinned as Baekhyun burst into laughter, fingertips hitting soft hair when the human threw his head back in a fit of laughter.

“Maybe.”

Baekhyun covered his mouth with his palm and wheezed laughter, but Chanyeol didn’t seem to care he was being laughed at at all, continuing to beam and smile widely, fingertips moving closer to Baekhyun’s hair.

“You smell like vanilla and strawberries,” The wolf continued, laughing to himself when Baekhyun snorted and looked at him wide eyed, “Cute.” 

The human blushed, covering it with his palms and sinking into his seat, “Ugh, embarrassing.” 

Chanyeol shook his head instantly, the smallest of frowns on his face, “No, I like it. You’re really cute.” 

Baekhyun  _ should _ be the one telling the werewolf that, but was liking him looking at him without shaking or blushing.

In the cafe Chanyeol had looked entirely embarrassed, like he’d seen a ghost.

“Hey, let me get this off my chest.” The wolf requested a moment later, curling fingers around Baekhyun’s wrist softly, “I imprinted on you- but don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be.. like uh, uh, like-“

Baekhyun squeaked, pulling his knees up into his seat and unable to look away as Chanyeol was  _ so  _ close to him, leaning over the seat.

Imprint.

He didn’t know whether to be scared or  _ elated.  _

Chanyeol would do anything Baekhyun wanted him to, would take care of him, protect him.

It was a  _ big  _ deal, and he was shocked and confused why Chanyeol told him so quickly, why the man was adamant he needed to know, because it would have been way less risky if he’d have waited until Baekhyun was closer to him.

Lucky for him, Baekhyun wasn’t a person that really thought things through either.

“Okay. Can you buy me meat now?” 

Chanyeol sagged with relief before nodding frantically, eyes gleaming, “Yeah. Buy you whatever you want, Baekhyun.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m literally such an impatient person I’m like yes let’s post the first chapter of all of the drabbles I have then I realize that’s a stupid idea and I’m like 🤡 then two minutes later I double post 😩 why am I like this 
> 
> Maybe I’m just being impatient because I only have one month until my semester starts again! My cognitive psych professor sent out an email talking about social isolation and depression (since many of us have been at home) and I relate to that so strongly because I haven’t seriously been anywhere since March because I have a weak immune system. And nobody wears masks where I live so I’m constantly paranoid leaving my room. I’ve seen my friends only two times since then, so I can definitely say my mental health has been slashed.
> 
> So, for whoever needs to hear it: I love you ❤️ I appreciate you, and I hope your mental health is okay. Are you guys going through this too?
> 
> My email is always available to give out, and comments section for a talk!


	13. Courting (Human & Wolf)

“Ew! How the fuck does Chanyeol stand you!” Minseok yelled, kicking at a pizza box on the floor and Baekhyun rolled his eyes, sprawled out across the back of the couch.

“Seriously, clean up, Baekhyun.” The nymph ordered.

“Okay, first of all,” Baekhyun huffed, not even looking away from the television, “It’s  _ one _ box from literally two minutes before you broke my door down, secondly, I just finished my final for music - finally, Chanyeol  _ wouldn’t care _ , and he's busy and I’m upset so don’t bring him up!” 

“Oh, really.” Minseok drawled.

Baekhyun pouted, giving a small nod before suddenly a box was being dropped onto his lap and he groaned because that shit  _ had  _ to be a few pounds.

“Your boyfriend sent you something, baby siren, happy.. three week anniversary or.. some shit. Do werewolves celebrate that sort of thing?”

Baekhyun couldn’t answer because he wasn’t totally sure himself, all he knew was Chanyeol was a sweetheart and a complete gentleman.

So much so that it sort of  _ (really)  _ annoyed Baekhyun the man hadn’t even tried to kiss him, let alone do more than hold his hand.

Chanyeol said it was because he didn’t want Baekhyun to make too rash of a decision, that he wanted the other to be completely sure he wanted to be romantically involved.

It was incredibly annoying because Baekhyun had been on Chanyeol's ass the moment he had seen the man - I mean, how  _ obvious _ does a human have to get? 

The werewolf always tended to write things off though. 

If Baekhyun was needy he said it was due to their bond.

If he was pouty, Chanyeol wondered aloud if it was because he hadn’t eaten.

And if Baekhyun  _ tried  _ to flirt, Chanyeol let him with a fond grin, but always nervously requested Baekhyun think things through before doing things.

Chanyeol really let him get away with too much, but the truth was Baekhyun just really liked the wolf, really wanted to snuggle up to him and kiss him.

“God, it’s heavy.” He grunted, pushing it to the side.

“I’m invading your fridge!” 

“You and Jongdae just  _ belong _ together,” Baekhyun huffed, earning a grin from across the kitchen causing him to grumble:  _ that was an insult. _

It hardly mattered as the other was digging through his shit already.

Baekhyun sighed and grabbed his key off the coffee table to dig into the taped box.

Honestly, he was surprised Chanyeol didn’t just come drop it off, as it was shipped from his home complete with Chanyeol's address in the  _ from  _ area. 

Maybe the man just hadn’t wanted him to be upset that he had to leave for a weekend, something about running in his wolf form and that concept had made Baekhyun wide eyed because he wanted to see it too.

Chanyeol was his boyfriend after all! It was only fair!

_ Next time, _ Chanyeol had promised and he had a very handsome smile so Baekhyun had given up his pouting.

“Oh- you’ve got to be kidding!” Baekhyun burst into laughter, leaning over the box and snorting loudly.

“What! What is it!”

The human's face was red as he tried to keep his laughter in, dumping the box onto the couch, “A shit ton of meat!” 

Minseok burst into laughter just as hard as Baekhyun had moments ago, shoulder shaking as he leaned over to start picking through the packages of meat.

_ What a fucking goofball. _

“I  _ did  _ say I liked meat.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes, but his expression was fond as he turned to search for his phone on the table, “I’ll be back. You can cook some of those if you want.. I have more than enough now.”

He really did, because there was no way he could finish all of that meat.

Baekhyun couldn’t keep his smile off his face though as he walked into his room, throwing himself onto his stomach and probably looking like a lovestruck teenager.

_ Maybe he was lovestruck.  _

Nobody had ever gave him twenty pounds of frozen meat before.

Was that a weird thing to be happy over? 

Baekhyun didn’t care because Chanyeol was so fucking weird, but he was  _ so  _ into it.

_ “Hello?”  _

_ “Baek?” _

Chanyeol sounded slightly out of breath and it took Baekhyun a moment to get over how good the man sounded.

_ “Baekhyun, hey?” _

“Yo- You fucking weirdo!” Baekhyun burst out with a laugh, “Who.. who the fuck sends frozen meat to their boyfriend! You’re crazy!” 

Chanyeol cackled,  _ “Someone who’s trying to court you! Baek, meat is like your favorite thing!” _

_ No. You are. _

“What? You gonna send me an entire cow next? If you do that please make sure it’s already in steak form!” 

_ “Hey! I could totally hunt and skin you something. Just figured you know, that’s a bit primal! Your neighbors would hate me for staining the hallway red! But I totally could, just want to make sure you’re eating well!” _

Baekhyun always laughed with Chanyeol, but the wolf’s need to impress him was the funniest to the human.

Because Chanyeol really didn’t need to impress him at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.. did y’all notice I added to the future stories.. DDLB IS BACK YALL 
> 
> if you guys have any ideas please send them, DDLB IS NOT MY STRONG SUIT! But yes! There is a new DDLB ONE AND I MAY HAVE WRITTEN A FEW DDLB MAFIA ONES BECAUSE I MISSED THAT UNIVERSE!! 
> 
> Sigh... the DDLB MAFIA one was the original OG and I can’t let it go! It’s the first time I ever tried that genre! 
> 
> 🥺🥺 so if y’all have ideas of what bb baek and daddy Chan should do for either let me know!


	14. Kitten (Human & Wolf)

“I sometimes wonder if you’re a hybrid, are you hiding a tail under there?”

Baekhyun giggled, continuing to crawl over onto the couch beside Chanyeol.

His boyfriends apartment was huge, and the first time Baekhyun had seen it he’d made a big deal of being surprised it didn’t look like the woods or forest and even Chanyeol had to laugh at that.

But, the truth was it was so large because Chanyeol's pack lived in the mountains and they’d accumulated a lot of wealth through trade, money nobody had use for except Chanyeol now. 

Apparently sexy barista was only a barista because Chanyeol claimed to get bored doing nothing - well, not anymore.

When Baekhyun was done with class he was all over his boyfriend, and if he wasn’t then Chanyeol was quick to be all over him, which was nice.

“I’ll be your kitten, Chanyeollie.” Baekhyun smiled, taking his tongue between his teeth and internally saying fuck it and wiggling under the werewolfs arm until he could get into a tight ball in his lap.

When Baekhyun pouted at Chanyeol for a lack of response he found the wolf with his head turned away and a palm over his nose.

The humans shoulders dropped, pressing his cheek down under Chanyeol's chin with his bottom lip sticking out, “Do I smell or something? Just showered though…” 

And Baekhyun was very meticulous about showering because Chanyeol's nose could smell people he’d seen days before on him if he didn’t shower.

The werewolf never complained, but Baekhyun could always tell when he was upset about it because Chanyeol rubbed up against him, nothing different from a puppy wanting to be pet.

“What?” Chanyeol asked, removing his hand and quickly grabbing the human in his lap at his apologetic tone, “No, no. You smell amazing, it’s just…”

Baekhyun whined and pressed his nose to Chanyeol's collarbone needily because he was impatient and the werewolf tended to try and change subjects.

“... just, you know I.. I want you to be sure, Baek. And when you do stuff like this.. so close, I just want to.. act on my instincts, and that’s not fair to pressure you into it.” Chanyeol sighed, shaking his head and petting down Baekhyun’s hair, “Nevermind, kitten, just for-“

“No.” Baekhyun whispered, shifting a bit to face Chanyeol better, seating himself on the couch cushion with his legs across the werewolf’s lap, fingers curling into Chanyeol's plain shirt, “If you’re upset let’s talk about it. I guess… guess I assume, you know.. that.. you want me close.. that you want me..”

“Fuck, Baekhyun,” The werewolf growled, cupping his jaw, “That’s definitely not the problem, god I’d take you with me all the time if possible, the.. issue is that I do want you too bad and I don’t want you influenced by the pull to be with me, I want you to be with-“

Baekhyun’s lip curled up angrily, and he was unable to control himself from curling his palm around the back of Chanyeol's neck, pulling him closer and pecking his mouth.

He sighed after, thumb rubbing Chanyeol's pulse and he felt the heavy breath the werewolf released against his mouth.

Baekhyun grinned when Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his lips right back, much more frantically, hand framing the humans face and turning it up so he could part his lips.

Chanyeol kissed exactly as Baekhyun expected him to, frantically and full of over excitement, easily carried away and licking into his mouth as if he could map it out, as if Chanyeol wanted to taste him for weeks.

He wondered if the werewolf would, if he’d smell Baekhyun all over himself for weeks. 

The thought made him shudder, and made Baekhyun release a tiny gasp into Chanyeol's mouth.

And maybe humans weren’t quite as possessive as werewolves because Chanyeol had said instantly that he’d probably lose his mind if he smelled something unfamiliar on Baekhyun, but that didn’t mean Baekhyun didn’t want some possession over Chanyeol.

It seemed a silly thought when he literally had the wolf tied to him, but Baekhyun was well aware his boyfriend was attractive, he’d been willing to put out the moment he’d seen the man after all.

“See?” Baekhyun murmured, arm holding Chanyeol in place with their foreheads together, his fingertips running over the werewolf’s ear, “Just want to be with you, Chan. Don’t care about the wolf shit, okay?”

“Imprinting is import-“

“Babe,” The human laughed, eyes crinkling as Chanyeol sniffed into his neck, “I’m just really happy to be yours, okay? You can save your wolf traditions as dirty talk for later, gets me really turned on.” 

“Really?” 

Baekhyun didn’t know if Chanyeol was talking about him happy to be the wolfs or his stupid joke so he went with the less deep option, giggling and pressing a kiss to his boyfriends cheek.

“You go on about how much you love Post Malone and even then I’m really turned on, puppy.” 

“That was one time!” Chanyeol whined, shoving Baekhyun into the couch cushions and making the human squeal as he was covered with the much larger form, fingers itching to pet Chanyeol's curls on the back of his head.

He knew the wolf was a little weird and had weirder tendencies than Baekhyun was used to in his relationships, but they were all so cute.

Baekhyun didn’t care to ask what Chanyeol was doing, because the wolf rubbing his cheek across his neck and chest seemed like a really sweet motion, so he assumed it was.

He just knew Chanyeol was really sweet, even if he was a spastic puppy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DDLB is in go, hopefully I will have tons of ideas and keep the cuteness for a while!


	15. Jealous (Human & Wolf)

“If you don’t put this on, I’ll rip my own hair out, Baekhyun!”

The human whimpered, curling his head up into the car seat with a shudder.

He didn’t know if this counted as their first fight, but he  _ felt  _ like it did. 

At least it’d been a lot later into the relationship to have one as it had been with his last boyfriend. 

Really, Baekhyun should have realized if you fight by the second date it was a no go, but he had been lonely.

Chanyeol wasn’t the yelling or threatening type though, he was calm and only clenched his jaw, didn’t dare to say anything insulting.

But Baekhyun knew that he was hard to fight with because he didn’t like arguing, he mostly liked to just hear what the other was saying and then wait for them to calm down.

Chanyeol was both calm and ranting out his annoyance, but Baekhyun just didn’t feel in the mood today.

He didn’t feel good at all, which was the reason he’d called his boyfriend to pick him up from school anyways. 

It was pouring out, and it was soaking wet, Baekhyun didn’t have a jacket on and his skin was clammy and freezing.

But Chanyeol apparently smelled something he didn’t like, was aggressive about something and Baekhyun hadn’t gotten an explanation yet as the werewolf had only continuously shoved jackets from the backseat at him.

Baekhyun just wanted a nap and Chanyeol had been ranting the entire ride home because the human was tired and didn’t put on the jacket because his limbs felt heavy.

“- and I’m telling you right now, Baekhyun. I’m not trying to upset you, but I  _ need  _ to know who the hell was around you today-“

Baekhyun whined, throwing his hand over his forehead as he leaned over his lap, “Chan! Stop, please.”

“-just asking and then you keep ignoring me and that’s really rude, baby. I just care about your safety and that smell is aggressive-“

“Don’t feel good!” Baekhyun burst into tears, quiet whimpers as he grabbed his head, “Chanyeol.. Chan.. don't feel good..”

He really didn’t, his head was spinning and he was so fatigued, he just wanted to lay under a warm blanket, drink warm milk, and watch tv until he passed out.

Baekhyun barely heard Chanyeol mutter a curse, felt a hand reach over blindly to lay on his cheek, probably going for his forehead, but missing completely.

That was fine though because the werewolf was so warm Baekhyun sniffed, relaxing into his palm as Chanyeol wiped his tears away.

“Okay. Just a second, I’m sorry, baby. Don’t cry, I’ll take care of you. We’re almost to my apartment. Sh, Baek, you should have said something. I’m so sorry.” 

Baekhyun wasn’t upset or anything, just a little exhausted, but Chanyeol seemed to really be beating himself up, cursing under his breath and holding the jackets to Baekhyun’s chest more because the human was  _ that  _ tired.

He wasn’t upset, knew Chanyeol couldn’t help but get worked up over smells he didn’t know, but Baekhyun just wanted to be held. 

It didn’t take long at all, it was only a longer drive because of the weather, but Baekhyun must have fallen asleep the last few minutes of the ride because when he opened his eyes it was to the loud sound of rain and Chanyeol wrapping a jacket over his back and Baekhyun whined, holding the one in his lap to his chest still, cheek pressed to the material tiredly.

“Sh, you can keep it.” Chanyeol mumbled, getting soaked but for him it didn’t matter as the werewolf  _ couldn’t  _ get sick; Baekhyun again was reminded why he was jealous of supernaturals so much. 

“Come on, I know you’re cold and sick. I’m sorry, kitten.” 

He only gave a quiet grunt when he was being picked up, hands instantly clutching Chanyeol's shirt as the man patted his head through the hoodies covering his skin from the rain.

“Like a real baby, Baekhyun.” He heard the wolf tease, “So cute, baby, just a minute.”

Baekhyun couldn’t care less how long it took because Chanyeol was like a heater and his entire body was warm where they were pressed together, he could have fallen asleep again right there if the rain hadn’t been so loud.

“Okay. Okay, just a second,” Chanyeol cooed, kissing his head and nosing at his hair, foot slamming the door shut behind him, “Fuck. Don’t know what to do, Baek. Let… let me google it.” He worried as he sat down with the smaller in his lap.

Baekhyun whined at that, abandoning his armful of clothes to lay fully on Chanyeol's chest, “In..” He whispered, yanking at the werewolf’s hoodie.

Chanyeol stared at him confused for a second before laughing and cupping his cheek to kiss the corner of his mouth, another kiss to his nose and then his forehead before releasing him and grabbing the edge of his hoodie to pull up.

He was lucky the werewolf hated too restrictive of clothing because he slipped inside the hoodie with him easily, wrapping his arms around Chanyeol's bareback, unsurprised with his naked torso beneath because he knew the wolf got hot quickly.

“Baby, just take a nap,” Chanyeok whispered, phone light reflecting off the back of Baekhyun’s hair. “I’m sorry. I got jealous, just sleep.” 

“It’s okay.” Baekhyun huffed, forehead pressing into Chanyeol's neck. 

Chanyeol sighed, pressing soft kisses to his hair as he scrolled through his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I don’t write smut often, what are your guys favorite like.. kinks(?) I guess lmfaooo, just what do you like to see? 
> 
> I hope some of you aren’t too young 🙏 I legit was thinking about it earlier and was like FUcK do I have CHILDREN READING THESEEEE! Because I usually don’t have much smut (sometimes I just feel like writing it tho) but I usually have sensitive topics... 😭😳😳
> 
> Also, thank you guys for the nice comments lately, I WISH AO3 had a private messaging feature, that would be so cool!
> 
> PS. Someone mentioned a mafia AU w Baek as the mafia and like.. it sounds so good but I have no idea how I’d do it (bc I’ve done so many!) 
> 
> Do you prefer innocent Baek (my specialty) or the opposite??


	16. Google (Human & Wolf)

“No.” 

Baekhyun released a tired groan of a laugh at the hand that covered his eyes. “B-“

“No. Sleep. Google says sleep and water.” 

The human could have laughed if he wasn’t so hungry and hadn’t just slept over twelve hours, occasionally waking up to the werewolf coddling him.

Chanyeol was a bit weird, but Baekhyun could understand he was afraid - he’d never had to experience someone being sick before.

Fuck werewolves and their strong immune systems.

“I ran out and got you medicine, and I got you soup and I- google says if you don’t sleep your immune system gets weak, Baek! Did you know that? You need to go back to sleep.” 

Baekhyun laughed then, removing the hand from his eyes, voice hoarse, “How will I eat then? I’m hungry.” 

He swore Chanyeol nearly went cross eyed.

The human then turned to roll over in the bed, noticing he was now dressed in the hoodie he recalled slipping into with Chanyeol.

Chanyeol must be really sweet because Baekhyun could picture the other not wanting to disturb him and slipping out from the hoodie just to lay him in bed.

“Soup! I need the soup!”

Baekhyun sighed fondly at the werewolf dashing down the hall, debating on what he felt he needed to do now with the ache in his sinuses, sore throat, and rumbling stomach.

He felt pretty disgusting, and could really use a shower.

But he didn’t have time to sneak over to Chanyeol's bathroom before the other was popping back in with a bowl, bottle of water, and a blanket under his arm as if Baekhyun wasn’t already sweating beneath all the covers.

Chanyeol wasn’t exactly wrong to try and warm him up, but Baekhyun could tell google was really going to the werewolf’s head with the bottle of honey sitting on the side table.

What? Did Chanyeol plan to force feed him or something? 

Baekhyun laughed under his breath at the thought, coughing slightly as he moved to sit against the headboard. 

“Poor baby, I’m sorry, kitten. I got you sick.”

“Wasn’t you, was the weather.” Baekhyun mumbled, making grabby hands for the bowl and holding the warmth to his chest once he received it.

“I was so mean to you,” Chanyeol whispered, taking a seat beside him and petting his hair.

If Chanyeol was  _ any  _ other person Baekhyun would whine that they were being overbearing - and on multiple occasions he had to shoo Jongdae and Minseok out when he was sick - but his boyfriend was trying so hard.

And Baekhyun liked to be babied a little even if he yelled at Jongdae and Minseok for treating him like a kid.

Chanyeol  _ had  _ been a bit mean to him though, even if Baekhyun knew it was instincts, so he didn’t respond and just sipped at his soup and reached for the remote on the side table.

“Kitten...” 

The werewolf obviously must have thought he was being ignored, because Chanyeol's eyes were wide and pleading when he blocked the television on the dresser with his head, “You're not upset are you? We.. you.. you’re not going to break up with  _ me?” _

His voice was mostly a whimper towards the end and Baekhyun  _ hadn’t  _ even considered that at all. “No, puppy. Come here,” Baekhyun mumbled, placing his bowl down on the table and grabbing Chanyeol's hand, “I’m not mad - I just don’t  _ feel  _ good and I was sick and you were angry. You can’t be angry like that okay? Just be a bit easier.” 

Chanyeol’s lip stuck out in a pout and Baekhyun didn’t really ever see it, “Someone brushed on you, another.. wolf, it stunk really bad, Baekhyun. I’m really sorry, please don’t be mad at me, I’ll do way better.” 

Baekhyun  _ couldn't  _ find it in him to be mad at him when he was a  _ werewolf _ and he had instincts that he, as a human, couldn't understand.

“We aren’t fighting, Chan. Sh, we’re okay.” He soothed, bringing the werewolf down into a kiss.

Well, at least  _ that  _ was another perk of having a werewolf boyfriend - kisses even when he was sick.

“Okay,” Chanyeol whispered, kissing his forehead softly and Baekhyun could  _ feel  _ how worried the other must have been, “You need something else? Medicine?”

“Medicine will put me to sleep again,” The human pouted, petting Chanyeol's hair for a moment, “I need to shower, then I’ll take the medicine,” He promised.

Chanyeol gasped and pulled back with a worried look, “No, what if you drown?”

If Baekhyun had enough air in his lungs right now he would have cackled, but it mostly came out as a cough as he tugged on the werewolfs ear, “Then I guess you’ll just have to come supervise, hm?”

The werewolf turned a bright red and avoided eyes, but nodded. “Just.. I can’t  _ not  _ look, okay?”

Chanyeol was  _ really  _ fucking cute and Baekhyun was in love. 

“That’s the  _ point, _ Chan. You can  _ definitely  _ look. I’m yours.” 


	17. Fetish (Human & Wolf)

“What _are_ you doing?” Baekhyun cackled, pulling his sleeves over his arms and looking over the arm of the couch. 

Chanyeol didn’t even look like he heard him and the human laughed loudly, laying down on his stomach and holding his head up as he watched.

The werewolf did turn to look at him at the sound, as Chanyeol usually tended to when he laughed, walking by to press a kiss to Baekhyun’s mouth and continuing on his rampage.

Baekhyun literally had no idea what the man was doing these days; Chanyeol was just so _wolfie_ he had no idea what he was doing recently.

The man had been coddling him ever since he’d gotten over his cold, so much so that when Baekhyun suggested him going back to his own apartment he was usually distracted with whimpering noises and kisses that changed his mind.

Chanyeol had been snuggled up to his spine not even minutes before, but the werewolf had jumped up to frantically start grabbing the oddest of things.

Now, there was a pile of clothes and blankets on the floor just stacking up.

“Babe.” Baekhyun tried again, reaching over the back of the couch to grab the others sleeve, “Puppy, you know I need you to explain these things.” 

Chanyeol shook him off with a fake growl and nipped at his cheek, continuing to walk over and throw the hoodie in his hands down on the pile before turning to him with a huge, expectant grin and arms out towards him.

The human laughed, sitting up on his knees to be picked up, latching onto his boyfriends shoulders, “What is this weird wolf fetish?” 

“It’s supposed to be _sweet!”_

Baekhyun giggled at the affronted tone, squeaking when he was placed into the blankets and instantly being covered in all the fabrics, “I’m going to overheat!” 

“No! You’re going to smell like me!” Chanyeol crooned proudly, worming himself beside him, pressing his face into Baekhyun’s jaw with a rather loud sniff. 

“ _Ah!_ Wolf things!” Baekhyun teased, grumbling under his breath as he moved to climb into Chanyeol's lap; he already knew he’d be sweating within a few minutes with all the material on him - plus the added heat of the werewolf close - but it was okay.

Chanyeol hummed into his neck, pressing his lips down against his pulse and running his palm down his spine beneath his shirt, “Called nesting, not wolf things, _thank you.”_

Baekhyun giggled into his hair, scratching at the back of his scalp with a content sigh, pressing a soft kiss to Chanyeol's hair and nuzzling into his curls.

He wasn’t surprised in the slightest that the werewolf continued the nuzzling into his neck, nearly twice as hard, but he was surprised at the small stinging jolt he felt, gasping and hips jumping towards Chanyeol's, face flushing a bright red and lips pressing together to hide a moan.

“Oh?”

Baekhyun was sure his entire face was beet red because Chanyeol pulled his head from his neck with a huge smirk, pressing their noses together, “You like that, baby?”

“Did you _bite_ me?” Baekhyun asked, licking his lips and pressing his nose into Chanyeol's swallowing hard, “You fucking cannibal.”

“Marking you,” The other replied with a shrug, “You like it.” 

Baekhyun _did_ like it, way too much, his mouth suddenly felt really dry, so he couldn’t help but lean down to press a kiss to Chanyeol's lips, sighing as the man was almost instantly prying his lips apart with his tongue.

If the werewolf was anything it was touchy and needy - but that was _extremely_ fine considering Baekhyun was ten times worse and was already working his thigh between Chanyeol's legs and pulling him down on top of him closer, feeling his neck throbbing a small bit because of the man's nip to his skin.

“Mhm, calm down. I’m a werewolf, don’t you know?” 

Baekhyun licked his lips at that, pressing his nose to Chanyeol's with a grin.

Of course he knew as much, but it didn’t stomp Baekhyun’s curiosity to be with him sexually.

“Chan?”

“Yeah, baby.” The man cooed, kissing his jaw.

“Let me touch you,” He requested with a pout, breath catching when he flexed his thigh between Chanyeol's legs, moving his palms down the man's hips to stick his palms beneath his waistband, “Want to touch you.” 

Chanyeol sucked in a breath, biting softly down his neck, “Fuck. You’re too much, you know that?” 

The human giggled, kissing the werewolf’s hair before squeaking in surprise when Chanyeol laid a palm over his boxers, whining and tugging on the others shirt. “No! You first!”

“You first, it always has to be you first, my little human.” 

“Just hurry up, Chan!” Baekhyun pouted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a few days mental health break from writing, but I have a lot stocked up for this story, so I’ll probably come on to update this one. 
> 
> Other than that, not sure about other stories or when I’ll start writing new things with lack of inspiration.


	18. Annoying (Hybrids)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol wasn’t used to sharing, but Baekhyun loves to share.

  
Chanyeol was an old hybrid.

He had been at the adoption center for a long time, but three years ago he’d been taken in by a family.

Minseok and Junmyeon weren’t a couple, but they were kind enough to take him in anyways.

It was so nice and Chanyeol hadn’t ever had a home before.

It was the perfect home for the past three years.

He had tons of snacks and pets and toys - perfect.

Until a puppy had been brought in.

Minseok said he found him in the rain, walking around aimlessly and whimpering so loud he heard it two blocks away.

Baekhyun was _annoying._

He frustrated Chanyeol to no end with his needless whimpering when doors were shut or the way he monopolized all the humans' time to himself.

He was such an annoying puppy. 

Chanyeol wanted him to leave the moment the pup had first spotted him and gave big eyes and flopped his tail back and forth excitedly.

“Chanyeollie!”

“It’s Chanyeol,” The elder sighed, bypassing the puppy in the living room to walk into the kitchen.

See, he was _self sufficient,_ and the other puppy still wanted the humans to tell him _bedtime stories._

So annoying.

“Chanyeollie!” The puppy cried, head of brown fluff popping over the couch, tail wagging so much Chanyeol could hear it smacking off the furniture. “Can you give me milks! Junnie said no for me to do it because I spilled on accident.” 

Reluctantly, Chanyeol sighed twice as loud and turned to the fridge to dig for milk.

As soon as the puppy noticed he was getting it there was a loud squealing yip that made Chanyeol's ear twitch and then roll his eyes at the stomping he could hear.

“Sank you, Chanyeollie! You’re my favoritest!” Baekhyun cried, nearly climbing on the island to grab the glass. “My _favoritest ever!”_

“Great, you can shut up now,” Chanyeol growled, rubbing his ear and then turning to grab eggs and various breakfast foods.

Baekhyun was silent and for a second Chanyeol was impressed the puppy actually listened before he heard the tell all squeal again.

“Do you want to play ball with me? Minnie said we can play ball! I love to play, let’s play together, Chanyeollie! I’ll give you lots of hugs if we can just-“

“Look.” The elder dog hybrid growled, spinning around to face sparkling brown eyes and a wide smile at the attention, “You're not staying here - just until they find you a new home, got it? They don’t have time to watch a puppy.” 

“You can watch me!” Baekhyun said with a pretty pout, tilting his head as if confused, “Right? You can watch me and I’ll be super duper good, Chanyeollie! I-I’ll -“

“I don’t have _time_ to watch you, I have things to do you know.” 

The puppy’s eyes dulled, “Like what? I can do it with you, can help.” 

“Please,” Chanyeol scoffed, “You literally tore up your blankets the first night here, Junmyeon had to buy you new ones, you know? You’re not staying here because you’re a _bad_ puppy and keep making so many messes. My owners don’t have time to clean up after you and I have so many other things like… like combing my tail, got it?” 

“I…” Baekhyun’s entire face was pink as he pressed his ears on his head, tail falling sadly down the back of his stool, “.. scared of the storms, Chanyeollie.. didn’t mean to tear the blankets…” 

Chanyeol told himself he didn’t feel bad and turned to go back to cooking when the puppy dropped his head down onto the counter.

He heard a quiet whimper and his ear twitched but Chanyeol didn’t feel bad when Baekhyun was a hassle and things were better when he was gone.

_He didn’t feel bad at all._

“Why.. why are you so mean?” Baekhyun sniffled, pulling at his top with dewy eyes, “Want to be friends.” 

“I don’t want to be your friend.” 

The puppy whined loudly and Chanyeol heard the stool behind him rattle but forced himself not to turn and check. 

“I’ll be s-so nice you’ll have to like me!” Baekhyun claimed.

Chanyeol didn’t bother responding because he knew if he hurt the puppy’s feelings _too_ much then he’d get in trouble for being so mean.

It wasn’t like him to be mean to others at all - but he’d never met a pup as annoying as Baekhyun.

Baekhyun stomped his foot with one last whine before turning to run down the hall.

Chanyeol told himself he didn’t feel guilty at all, not even when he noticed Baekhyun hadn’t even touched his cup of milk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think when I near the end of one story, I’ll post the first of another, do you guys like that idea?


	19. Story (Hybrids)

Baekhyun hogged attention.

As soon as the humans were home from work the puppy was worming himself into Minseok’s lap with his puff of a tail wagging at dangerous speeds.

Chanyeol was too old for that now, he didn’t need pets.

But Baekhyun followed the humans around like a monkey, getting his ears scratched and giggling as he told them about his day.

How the puppy made sitting by the window all day sound interesting, Chanyeol had no idea.

All he knew was that the humans ate the puppy up and thought he was adorable.

Chanyeol was sure the little thing was the Devil because Baekhyun’s smile at him  _ had  _ to be fake because he was always so mean to the puppy but the smile he got was always really big. 

Now he was just laying in  _ his  _ room, even though he was told to share the playroom and toys with Baekhyun, when he heard the door creaking open.

It only took a second for him to notice the puppy sitting outside the door, tail in his lap and a hand cracking it so he could peek inside.

If the puppy was trying to be sneaky this had to be the worst failure of such a thing in history.

“Go away,” He barked, rolling onto his other side in a patch of light to look at Baekhyun firmly, “I have no time to play with you.” 

The puppy’s lips poked out and he whimpered, making himself even tinier as he pushed the door open all the way, “No… not even for rope?” He asked, pulling a brand new rope from beside him.

Chanyeol’s eye twitched at the colorful rope, it still had the plastic tag on it too and he suspected his owners must have given the toy to Baekhyun for them to play with.

That or the puppy was observant and knew ropes were his favorite.

“Not playing with you,” Chanyeol said firmly.

Baekhyun sniffled, placing the rope in front of him on the carpet, tugging it between his own hands.

Good, he could play by himself, it wasn’t Chanyeol's concern.

“Do you want.. you want to tell stories then?” The puppy asked sadly, eyeing Chanyeol hopefully.

The elder grunted and pressed his head into a pillow hard to ignore the other.

Really? Couldn’t the puppy tell he didn’t want to be bothered? 

Chanyeol only came out for food or to say hello to his owners, ignoring Baekhyun, because the thing was just  _ so  _ annoying.

He couldn’t stand the apple scent of the puppy either.

Yup. He definitely hated it.

“There.. I once got told.. that there was a little puppy… and he was really fluffy and his tail was really super soft..”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, pulling himself into a ball and hoping Baekhyun would notice he didn’t care to listen to him.

_ But he was listening anyway. _

“And he gotted put into a shelter when his mommy got sick.. and then he tried to make so many friends with others, but nobody wanted to be friends with him because when he was little he didn’t talk very well and they said he was stupid.” 

Chanyeol heard the puppy sniffle and popped an eye out from behind the blanket to watch Baekhyun toying with the edge of the rope toy. 

“.. den, shelter said he was not going to get any owners because couldn't talk well… then put him outside a lot…. puppy runned away but was too cold.” Baekhyun wiped his nose into his sweater and Chanyeol felt his stomach turning. “Okay now because found home but still have no friends.. it’s.. it's kay I guess.” 

The elder hybrid didn’t know what to say to the puppy because Chanyeol couldn't relate to that, the shelter he had been at was very kind to him and the only reason it took so long for him to be adopted was because he was large and his shelter didn’t find the homes suitable for his size when they went to inspect those who were interested in him.

And Chanyeol had tons of friends, he had so many friends and had play dates at the park and even at home.

He was even pretty sure that his owners were dating some of his friends' owners even if they didn’t admit to it.

It wasn’t his business if Baekhyun had no friends, he told himself, because Chanyeol had plenty of other things to do instead of worrying over an annoying pup.

Like napping or talking to his friends on the computer - plenty of things.

But when Baekhyun laid down on the carpet in the hallway and started chewing at the rope Chanyeol felt like it was his fault the puppy was sad.

_ Whatever. It was better this way. _

Less of the puppy to remember when Baekhyun had to leave.


	20. Guilt (Hybrids)

“I really want to keep him.” 

Chanyeol widened his eyes at Minseok and Junmyeon from his spot lying on Minseok's bed.

“I know, Min. Me too, but.. you know, he’d need to get tagged and who knows if they’d let us. With Chanyeol… you know it’s really iffy with getting a puppy registered and approved to live with an older hybrid.” 

Minseok sighed so loud Chanyeol was worried, “I know, it’s just.. it’s ridiculous. I mean, Kyungsoo said he would take him in, but even then I just feel bad because Baekhyun likes it here so much. Him and Chanyeol are the same breed of dog, Baekhyun isn’t that much younger, he’s adult enough.” 

“Doesn’t matter, they’d still say Chanyeol would be too aggressive, unless we can prove they got along then we’re just fucked.. and you know Chanyeol just  _ hates _ him.” 

The hybrid in question pressed his ears down because they sounded so upset, he regretted pretending he was asleep now.

“It’s not fair, Baekhyun says he loves Chanyeol. I don’t know what’s gotten into Yeol, he loves Sehun, he loves Jongin, Chanyeol loves everyone.” 

If Chanyeol were Baekhyun he would have told on him for being so mean a while ago, it made him frown that the other hadn’t told on him when Chanyeol told on the puppy for even just getting water all over the bathroom.

“Not Baekhyun.” 

“Yeah, I guess not Baekhyun.” 

Chanyeol pulled his tail between his legs guiltily.

******

The elder hybrid had thought over his owners words all day.

It wasn’t fair that he would be the reason Baekhyun had to leave if his owners liked the other so much.

Chanyeol just was really annoyed with the puppy.

He couldn’t help it, Baekhyun was just really annoying and Chanyeol had even snapped teeth at him for yanking on his tail yesterday.

_ Want to play!  _ The other had reasoned with wide, scared eyes at the elder threatening to bite him.

But still, that didn’t seem to stop Baekhyun at all because Chanyeol had just woken up from a nap and his back was abnormally warm.

Originally, he was going to start yipping at Baekhyun for daring to take a spot in his bed while he was asleep, spreading his gross apple scent everywhere. 

But his owners came back to him then, and Chanyeol hadn’t even ever seen the puppy this close because he was too busy not giving him a chance.

Baekhyun made really weird noises in his sleep, sniffling and whimpering, and when Chanyeol rolled over to look at him better the puppy had instantly curled his puff of a tail around him.

It  _ was _ really soft and Baekhyun had offered him to touch it about a million times as if trying to bribe Chanyeol with it.

It  _ was  _ bribe worthy, Chanyeol decided because it had a lot of different colors too.

The elder couldn’t help himself and sniffed at Baekhyun since the smaller was completely out - if Baekhyun woke up he'd just start yelping at the other for sneaking into his room.

When his nose touched Baekhyun’s cheek he found it was really cold and assumed that was why the puppy had snuck in.

That kind of made Chanyeol feel bad because he knew puppies got cold easier than he did.

He also assumed it was pure instinct that had him wanting to clean the others' faces because there was a bit of milk on the puppy’s chin. 

Plenty of times Chanyeol had heard others say Baekhyun was really cute, his friends always said he was when Chanyeol was on video with them and they could see the puppy rolling around in the background.

He always said  _ no _ Baekhyun was really annoying and that’s it.

Maybe it wasn’t fair because Chanyeol was just unused to having to share things so much and it made him upset.

Baekhyun probably didn’t have the things he did though.

The puppy never whined about the clothes he was given, even if he tripped over them; he never pouted about what he was given to eat, even when he’d thrown up the first week and apparently he was allergic to seafood and had  _ known  _ but had eaten anyways because he said he didn’t want to be mean.

Chanyeol just thought he was a suck up back then, trying to take his spot.

But he had been feeling pretty bad ever since Baekhyun told him a story. 

It didn’t mean he  _ liked  _ the puppy. 

(Even if he did.) 

It just meant he would try to be a bit nicer to him in the future.

That was his reasoning for why he gave Baekhyun a ball when the other woke up looking scared for being caught in Chanyeol’s bed.

Baekhyun’s smile was cute, and that’s all Chanyeol would admit to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the summary area is almost at max characters and you don’t know how to shorten it down 🤡 🤡


	21. Play (Hybrids)

“Thought you hated him! Yixing said he was going to file for Baekhyun if Kyungsoo didn’t!” Jongdae yelled, smacking at a string that was falling off of the ball Sehun was gnawing on.

Chanyeol frowned at that, pulling away from licking his tail that was stained with grass. “He’s okay. I decided that he was a puppy and didn’t understand how to calm down yet.” 

“No!” Jongin yelped from his spot lying on the parks grass and panting, “I wanted to have him and we could play all the time!”

“He’s really not that young,” Chanyeol commented with a roll of his eyes, “I don't think he’d want to play with you.” 

“He gave me his treats just yesterday! You were busy ignoring us!” The younger cried indignantly.

Chanyeol had no reasoning for why he felt so jealous about that, Baekhyun was just nice and liked to share all his things.

He sighed, “Fine, why don’t you go get him then!” 

Jongin laughed, turning to tackle Sehun and start a fight over the ball instead of listening.

Now that Chanyeol thought about it, he hadn’t seen the puppy in a little, not since they’d gotten here basically. 

Saturday’s were for park days, but they also just so happened to be the busiest days of the week so Chanyeol was now worried because Minseok had requested he watch Baekhyun while the humans went to go get them all lunch.

He was in charge of the puppy and hadn’t even really noticed Baekhyun wandered off from where he was last seen holding a doll in his teeth and sniffing around.

“I’ll be right back…” Chanyeol mumbled, standing up and looking around the park.

He could have asked the others for help, but now he felt horrible because he had one job and didn’t see Baekhyun in sight.

The hybrid was quick to sniff for the other, but it was a bit hard when there were so many others. 

Baekhyun though, was the only dog he’d ever met that smelled like fruit.

It still took Chanyeol a few minutes though, and he found the other sitting in a sandbox but that wasn’t  _ all  _ he found. 

The husky puppy had his ears flat on his head and tail in his hands and he was  _ surrounded  _ by three rottweilers.

Chanyeol felt really bad now as he saw one of them holding the doll up, it's arm was missing and now he was  _ pissed  _ because that was Baekhyun’s favorite doll and the puppy didn’t go anywhere without the stupid yarn doll.

That didn’t excuse what they were doing at all, even if Chanyeol thought the doll was ugly it was still  _ Baekhyun’s. _

And the puppy looked like he was begging for it back.

“Hey!” He barked, storming over with an angry growl, “What do you think you’re doing!”

Baekhyun whimpered as soon as he saw him and Chanyeol saw tears dripping down the puppy’s face and that was just so mean of them to bully Baekhyun.

“He’s too old to have dolls! We were just helping!” 

Chanyeol knew he was big, and that he was scary when he wanted to be, and right now he hoped he was really scary. “Who said that? Huh? You think it’s okay? You better give the doll back right now or I’ll tear your ears off!”

Such talk would get him sent to the pound should one of the rottweilers owners hear, but he didn’t care.

His owners would fight them if they tried anything once they heard about this.

One of the rottweilers yelped at that in fear and was taking off running, soon the other two followed.

As soon as that one wasn’t blocking Baekhyun anymore the puppy whined and was moving to paw at his doll sadly.

It was all torn up and well beyond repair. 

“J-Jun gonna be sad I broke him…” 

Chanyeol frowned and sat on the ground, grabbing the doll with a grimace, “No. He’ll just get you a new one when we tell on them.” 

Baekhyun nodded with sad eyes, holding his tail under his chin and it made Chanyeol sad too, “Are you hurt?” 

“They.. pull my tail and ear.” The puppy confessed with tears sliding down his cheeks, “Not nice.” 

“That’s not nice,” Chanyeol agreed, “What were you doing? I thought you were going to play chase with us.” 

“Didn’t.. want to ruin your friend time. Find my own friend, but not very nice ones.” 

Chanyeol felt his chest beat painfully and reached over to pull Baekhyun over by his arm, hugging him tight, “We’re friends. My friends are your friends too, we can all play together.” 

He felt the smallest movement of a wag against his thigh before Baekhyun was looking at him with a pink face and a hopeful smile, “We can play together.” 

“Yeah, we can play together, puppy. Let’s play together.” 


	22. Kisses (Hybrids)

Chanyeol and Baekhyun played a lot these days.

Much more than usual for Chanyeol.

Normally the older hybrid would be taking naps by the doors or busy ignoring the puppy, but ever since the incident he’d been easier on the younger.

Way easier meaning he didn’t snap teeth at Baekhyun and regularly made him food because the pup was accident prone.

The elder also couldn’t really claim to be surprised when the puppy started scratching at his door at night, holding a few snacks on his hands and looking at him with wide and hopeful eyes.

Chanyeol _pretended_ to be reluctant, but always let the pup in because Baekhyun had mean puppy eyes.

He also _reluctantly_ let the puppy put a movie on and _accidentally_ fall asleep in his bed.

That wasn’t anyone’s business though. 

Sometimes the elder forgot he was a much bigger hybrid than the puppy, and even when he got too rough playing Baekhyun didn’t seem to mind at all.

But he’d never made the puppy yelp before, and now he felt so bad because Baekhyun was turning to look apologetic like he’d made the other angry.

They had just been playing chase, and Chanyeol went to grab Baekhyun’s pant leg but accidentally nipped his tail and it was _completely_ his fault. 

“You mad?” The puppy whimpered, eyes full of tears and chest still moving up and down from his running.

Chanyeol frowned, pulling his own ears down, “Sorry.” 

“You mad at me?” Baekhyun whined, sniffling loudly, “What I do?”

Chanyeol’s tail wrapped around his hind leg sadly, unsure of what to say because even if he said it was an accident Baekhyun would probably still cry because he was just a puppy and he was sensitive.

So sensitive that even the day before the puppy had cried because Jongdae said his tail color looked weird over video calls.

The older hybrid rocked on his feet for a moment, pouting his lips in thought before tugging on Baekhyun’s sweatshirt and rubbing his cheek onto the puppy’s chest apologetically.

It caused the puppy to squeak when he was pushed down into the carpet from Chanyeol's weight, but his tail started thumping against the floor despite his teary eyes.

Chanyeol felt really bad for being too aggressive and maybe Minseok and Junmyeon were right and he _was_ too big to be playing so much with Baekhyun who was much smaller.

But the puppy never ever complained about being pushed around at all, not even when Chanyeol stole toys from his jaw too harshly and got scolded by the humans for not thinking about if it could hurt Baekhyun’s teeth when he did that.

“Chanyeollie,” The puppy giggled, “Tickle!”

Laughing, Chanyeol dropped down onto the puppy’s torso to continue rubbing his face against his top, his own tail moving a mile a minute excitedly because Baekhyun was starting to smell more like him than apples.

If Baekhyun had any problem with it, he didn’t show such a thing at all, in fact the puppy was wiggling down until Chanyeol's head was resting near his neck, his fluff of a tail moving so quickly it was causing a slight breeze as he started snuggling his face into the elders neck affectionately.

It was really sweet and made Chanyeol smile because Baekhyun was really nice and he still felt horrible being so mean to him before when the puppy very obviously just wanted a friend. 

Such nuzzling was innocent too until Chanyeol felt a warm wetness on his jaw and heard a small squeak before a second lick was placed onto his temple.

His eyes widened, sitting back a bit to watch Baekhyun’s excited, wiggly movements to attempt to give him more licks.

“Did you just kiss me?”

Baekhyun didn’t even seem to hear the shock in his tone or anything other than his own excitement as he squealed and sat up to wrap his tail around Chanyeol's wrist before attacking his cheeks with more kisses.

Unable to do anything but sit in shock, Chanyeol gawked when Baekhyun had the audacity to curl their tails together and mouth against his jaw. 

He had never considered the puppy wanted to be his _partner_ rather than his _friend._

He had half a mind to assume Baekhyun had no idea what he was doing if only the puppy wasn’t now combing over his tail and placing theirs side by side with continuous excitement.

“Um.. uh - Bae-“

“Chanyeollie,” The puppy giggled with a bright smile, “Nini was right! He sayed you have a crush on me! You touched my tail first!”

Chanyeol didn’t recall doing so, but it made more sense the puppy went crazy over such a thing.

Now he just couldn’t stand to break Baekhyun’s heart.

Perhaps he _had_ been acting out unconsciously; after all, it wasn’t a secret the puppy was very cute and smelled really good and was really kind.

It explained how defensive he was of the puppy.

Chanyeol swallowed hard because he suddenly felt he’d been an idiot just because he’d never felt such an attraction before.

“Can - can have kisses before bedtime too?” 

“I…”

Baekhyun giggled, his sparkly teeth pressing into his bottom lip and doing a wiggle of his hips happily before he was standing on his knees to plop down onto Chanyeol's thighs and roll onto his back.

Normally Chanyeol would assume such a thing to be: _give me belly rubs!_ Because Baekhyun was high maintenance and needed a lot of attention, but just by the puppy’s wiggly bottom he could tell it was much more excitement than that.

It was just all so quick and unfamiliar that Chanyeol probably looked really awkward patting Baekhyun’s stomach even though it was a _normal_ occurrence.

What wasn’t normal though was that he leaned over to lick the puppy’s cheek to and Baekhyun absolutely yipped before being unable to handle his own happiness and grabbing Chanyeol's face to lick kisses over his mouth instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is so responsive lately! It makes me so excited to put up new chapters, thank you guys!


	23. Replacing (SMWTY)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An extra for Sing My Way To You

  


  
Baekhyun stumbled a bit down the steps, unused to having to walk around with the added weight of new leather lace up boots and his wool cloak. 

Chanyeol acted as if he could contract human illness and dressed him for the chilly weather, but the truth was Baekhyun was sure his lover simply felt bad since the last he’d been sick was during the changing in excruciating pain.

It was okay now, and now he was simply excited because he hadn’t been to the village in many long months.

It hardly mattered as before he never had enough gold to buy anything at all for himself, barely scraping by to get the things he’d been sent to buy.

Suri or Mrs. Kim were usually the ones that frequented the village and spent money they _didn’t_ have.

But what use did immortals have with gold? Little to none, so they’d built up quite a stash.

Baekhyun felt a hand wrap around his waist beneath the cloak and felt the possessive fingers curl into his hip. “Do you not see the wandering eyes of the mortals? You must stick close or I think tonight will be more of a bloodbath than a trip.”

Having not even noticed, Baekhyun looked around at the mortals.

It felt weird as before he rarely was spared glimpses, they’d never shown him any kindness in his lifetime, so he didn’t care for them much at all.

Perhaps he’d become arrogant, but he _was_ much more than them now.

While the women looked like they had trouble breathing, the men had only lust as they looked at him. They would trail their eyes across his features all the way down to his tattooed chest. 

Chanyeol claimed exposure of the mark was _only right, sunlight,_ because he liked to see it at all moments.

Baekhyun indulged him simply because he felt it was more a reminder of his soulmate being here with him rather than possession.

His poor man had gone so long alone, he’d nearly forgotten what it was like to be _needed._

“My handsome man,” Baekhyun hummed under his breath, so soft he knew human ears couldn’t possibly pick up his voice, fingers sifting over clips of various colors at a stand, Chanyeol's fingers were dipping so low behind his cloak they neared his pubic area but he knew his soulmate did it more out of seeking attention than lust, “It must be a shame for them to view me knowing I’m very much in love and being _loved.”_

Chanyeol grinned and Baekhyun felt he’d said the perfect thing, standing on his toes to press a kiss to his lovers cheek. 

“You, my dearest, deserve very much.” The other chided, hugging his stomach with a palm over his ribs and leaning over his shoulder.

“Will you buy me this?” Baekhyun grinned, holding a sparkling clip in his fingers, “I believe it would look very nice if I only wore your shirt, yes?”

The amount of time it took Chanyeol to be handing over gold and placing the clip into his pocket was little to none and caused the smaller to giggle, tucking under his cloak as they walked along.

Baekhyun liked the fond look to Chanyeol's eyes all of the time, but out in the village things were lit by lamps at every stand and it made the orangeness stick out in his eyes.

His wasn't as noticeable at all compared to some of the others, it was almost like if someone blinked too quickly they’d miss the light tint of blue to his brown eyes, a mere flicker or reflection of light. 

Chanyeol always noticed and preened when it occurred, likely because it mostly occurred when Baekhyun was looking at him in pure happiness. 

He couldn’t help how much love overwhelmed him these days, filling to the top of his chest only to be spilling when given a kiss on the mouth or a simple hand urging him up from the windowsill before sunlight came out.

Baekhyun wanted to learn if he could bend the light, if he could find a way for them to go out into the sunlight, but Chanyeol never wanted to risk it.

Understandable because it was pure pain to be caught in the rays and crisped black.

But the group had been so happy his gift was what it was because Baekhyun lighting rooms up was the closest thing to _sunlight_ they would ever be in the vicinity of.

“My lover.” Baekhyun mumbled, latching around Chanyeol's waist as the other stopped at a booth, “My love, I am cold.” 

He heard the resonating chuckle from Chanyeol and pouted his lips dramatically as he watched the other pay for a bag of fruit.

Baekhyun loved fruit, and while it gave them no nutrients, it had _taste_ and Chanyeol had never been interested in foods thus it was his mission to find a human snack his soulmate loved.

It’d been working so far. 

“What a lie,” Chanyeol cooed, tweaking the tip of his nose before opening his cloak to which Baekhyun snuggled beneath with a beam as if he could become cold.

Chanyeol was just always so warm.

“Have I not given you enough attention? You must be deprived.” 

“I’m very deprived,” Baekhyun agreed with a playful pout and wide eyes, “There’s only one solution!” He cried.

The immortal chuckled and kissed his forehead, trailing a palm down his back before running his thumb over the curve of his ear, “Enlighten me, beautiful.” 

With a winning grin, Baekhyun slid a hand beneath the opened area of Chanyeol's top, and only for him to see, and lit his fingertips a light blue over the barely beating of his heart. “I believe only a bed is in order and can fix my pain.” 

Chanyeol laughed deeply and leaned down to capture his lips in a deep kiss, uncaring of exactly how many humans would view them.

Humans had rumors of their kind, the immortal beauty and enchanted ness.

They probably knew who they were anyways, so they didn’t care to hide it and only dressed in cloaks and expensive items as an act of superiority.

It was something Baekhyun had never felt before and it was rude, but _nice._

“I always muse when you are not around,” Chanyeol whispered against his lips, “That every moment I have you makes up for everyday I was left cold and alone, angel.” 

“Those memories won’t matter when I plan to remove your loneliness and replace them with love, darling.”


	24. Jungkook (Adopt)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jungkook needed a home, he was welcome to stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This story is not for those just wanting ChanBaek fluff, truthfully it’s really not much ChanBaek relationship diving at all.
> 
> It’s about the truth that 1/4 girls and 1/6 boys will be sexually manipulated, abused, or assaulted before age 18. 
> 
> Recently, there has been more and more news articles of such abuse of children, and it physically churns my stomach and brings me back to the days of my human sexuality class and my professors lessons about pedophiles, they will reoffend if given the chance, and most of the time they do not believe they’re harming the child at all. 
> 
> The psychology major in me just needed to deep dive really quick, but I swear it’s not graphic or even very detailed into PTSD (Although I could have) I wanted to keep it not too horrible given I know there are a lot of people wanting only fluff from my stories.

  
When Baekhyun and Chanyeol got in contact with a social worker, this wasn’t what they’d been expecting.

They were both married, they’d been married for years, they were high school sweethearts, and they both _loved_ children.

The worst part was the obvious fact they both were _male,_ and very much could not have children.

Not of their own genetics.

Adoption seemed the best plausible option, it was something they put a lot of money into, because they had to have a home big enough, they had to have it all built for children complete with locks on the cabinets.

They had to _foster_ first.

They’d had a few foster children the past year, usually teenagers waiting for the social workers to find their next relative before they were swooped up and taken away with a slip of paper with their number if they ever wanted to call.

It never got easier when they never did, they never contacted them again.

Even though Chanyeol and Baekhyun loved them even if they weren’t really children, and even if a few of them had more pressing anger issues and aggression.

In the end, they’d worked it out in a way that they felt there was a _bond._

Apparently not, and they decided that persons teenagers were too old truly recognize all the work they were putting into this, the love they gave.

They were just in a place in life where things they cared about weren’t aligned with the things they needed like love and care - the two things Baekhyun and Chanyeol _gave._

It was okay, even if it did hurt. They all had lives to live.

But this, this wasn’t what they’d been expecting really. 

A child, yes, a beautiful, adorable little boy holding a ragged backpack in chubby fingers shuffling on their doorstep, back pressed into their social workers calves.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself, honey?” Their social worker asked, sending an apologetic smile to the couple, Minseok never _was_ the best with timing.

“I.. Jungkook… _pwease_ care of me.” 

At four twenty one in the morning, hair dismayed and pajamas hanging off tired forms, the couple fell in love for the second time.

Only with a little four year old that had the voice of a two year old, the vocabulary of such too, and eyes that _begged._

Wide eyes the color of coffee and torn shoes.

“Hi, pumpkin.” Chanyeol was the first to snap out of it, offering the little boy a hand, “I _love_ your backpack, you like Iron Man? Me too, Jungkook. You want to see your room?” 

This was unexpected, so early in the morning Baekhyun knew Chanyeol would be putting the baby back to sleep.

They’d have to go shopping, but in the meantime he could only hope Jungkook's tiny backpack had more than toys inside.

Baekhyun wanted to go join them, droopy eyes filled with sleep, but his heart full at the cute little boy, but Minseok was still here and that didn’t mean anything good. 

He sighed and stepped outside the door, closing it behind him, the cool morning air caused him to cross his arms over his chest and he would have made the other come inside had he not had a _bad_ feeling about what he was going to hear.

“Sorry it’s so early,” Minseok mumbled, hands sticking into his pockets, “I’ve had him just sitting in my office for two hours while I went through papers. Yours was the only place open.” 

“Time doesn’t wait, it's fine,” Baekhyun whispered, “Certainly not for tormented children, right? Just spit it out.” 

The social worker laughed a small bit, grabbing the bag dangling on his shoulder to dig inside and pull out a manilla folder. 

They’d seen a few before of these, only of teenagers files, usually filled with other fosters home complaints of the children’s eating habits, their temper, their behavior.

But Jungkook was _young._

And when Baekhyun opened the file all he found was two papers instead of the usual stack.

The usual few lists of someone’s past.

“His father was arrested this morning for drug trafficking and neglect, but they’re still working on the case so if you guys have _anything_ to add we need you to call those numbers,” Minseok muttered, pointing at the paper Baekhyun was reading.

A _list_ of detectives and police officers, typed with intent.

“.. mother died when he was young, no family they could find that didn’t have a criminal record, it all suggested the child be put into worse conditions. My job is to find him the safest place, I won’t sign him into anyone’s care unless I was sure they were safe.” 

The second paper was plain and simple.

The start of Jungkook's journey through foster care. His age, his birthday, the date today, and at the very top **_PARK FAMILY._ **

Baekhyun’s stomach churned because he’d never seen their name look so _devastating_ on paper before.

“Of course,” He whispered, “He’ll be safe here.” 

“I know,” Minseok gave a stiff grin, “I’ll let you get some sleep. I’ll give you guys a call sometime tonight, hopefully when _everyone_ is rested.” 

Baekhyun laughed and shook his head as he opened the front door up, “Try calling again tomorrow then, I guess I need to go to the store. I have a toddler to shop for.” 

Minseok's chuckles dulled when he walked away after a swift wave, turning into nothing as Baekhyun stepped into the house.

He wanted to go down the hall immediately, so he tossed the papers onto the back of the couch as he walked down the hallway, he could hear the deep drawl of Chanyeol’s voice and was surprised the man and child were still awake at all.

The door was cracked and he took that as an invitation to walk inside the under-decorated room.

The child’s room was untouched because they hadn’t had a child before, only teenagers and that room was probably just as plain even though they’d offered to each teenager to decorate it.

He supposed they must have known they would be leaving anyways.

They’d been right.

“Baekhyun, look Jungkookie, _this_ is Baekhyun, but we can call him Baekie or Daddy, remember? We can call him anything we want so long as it’s nice,” Chanyeol cooed, putting a blind hand out towards Baekhyun and pulling the smaller onto his knee where he sat on the side of the small toddlers bed.

Jungkooks eyes looked to barely be bobbing open anymore and Baekhyun needed to scold Chanyeol for keeping him awake, small fingers were pressing to even tinier lips and his curved nose sniffled.

“Hi, little man.” Baekhyun soothed, reaching over to grab the tips of Jungkook's fingers of the hand that laid over the space patterned bed set, running his thumb over the tiny, soft fingers, “We’re going to be very nice parents to you, sugar. So let’s get a long sleep and buy lots of toys.” 

Chanyeol kissed his shoulder and Baekhyun knew he was wondering what had been said, but those were words for another time - hopefully after a long nap. 

_“Kay Mommy.”_

They were in _love_ once again _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Not to mention the horrible foster care system, smh)


	25. Tantrum (Adopt)

The good news was that Jungkook hadn’t been physically abused. 

He had no marks on his skin they could see when they’d dressed him up and given him a pull up - which was sad in itself as he was old enough to be potty trained and they’d learned the first night he was  _ not -  _ but they didn’t see any bruises or spots on what was visible of the boys body.

Good. Baekhyun had been afraid.

But Jungkook, while small, was also a fast eater, he didn’t whine or complain, he didn’t really talk much more than he needed.

It was weird when he was at a social age.

Nevertheless, they loved him and the way his size three pajamas dragged on the floor and how cute of a smile they’d seen when he picked out his own clothes at the store.

Jungkook was shy, he was quiet, he didn’t do much other than play toys with himself and eat, but he was smart even if he wasn’t at the level he  _ should  _ be.

“Okay, little prince, bath time,” Chanyeol chimed, a towel over his arm as he walked back into the living room from his fast dash to fill up the tub.

His absence didn’t seem to matter because Jungkook was in the same place he left him, on a blanket on his belly with a bowl of dry cereal and his small hand holding his chin up to watch Iron Man blow up a building.

Baekhyun claimed that such movies weren’t for kids, but Chanyeol's  _ favorite  _ movie was a hero movie so he’d won the argument fast.

Plus, Jungkook did like Iron Man a lot.

“Daddy,” Jungkook whispered, climbing onto his feet and turning to look at Chanyeol with a confused, scrunched expression, “Where Mommy?” 

“Mommy went to work really fast, remember? He makes clothes, so he went to get our Kookie some more clothes. They’re very fancy, you’re so special to get them before any other kids!” Chanyeol cooed, smiling when Jungkook curled a hand into his sweatpants as he led them down the hall to the bathroom. 

Good thing the child stool by the sink was out of the doorway, probably Baekhyun’s doing as Chanyeol was known to trip over it, but it made Jungkook smile so it was fine if he busted his toe once or twice.

“Oh…” The toddler whispered, a tiny sulking expression on his face.

Chanyeol frowned and pressed a kiss to his hair as he got down onto his knees to pull his pajamas off, “Why are you sad, Kookie? You aren’t happy to see me? I know Baekhyun takes care of you a lot, but I love you too.” 

Baekhyun  _ did  _ tend to take care a lot, more because he was the overbearing type rather than anything else.

He was the type of parent that was more needy than the children, and Chanyeol understood that as he was more of the  _ too  _ oblivious kind of parent that tried to give the kids their own space.

That tactic worked  _ much  _ more for teenagers, so he was still getting used to watching Jungkook.

“Juss… Mommy give bath…” Jungkook whispered, shuffling in his pull up as Chanyeol undid it.

It made the adult frown, a small bit jealous as he lifted the toddler to set into the tub of bubbles, “Daddy can give  _ just  _ as good of baths, Jungkookie! I’ll even play boats with you!” He cried playfully, standing up only to turn and dig in the cabinet beside the tub for a cup to scoop water up.

It took less than a minute for Chanyeol to hear tiny sniffs and instantly panic, hand holding the blue cup as he quickly ran back over.

Jungkook was wiping his cheeks with the flat of his hand, but started crying more, “I  _ soww _ y! No cwy!” 

“What? No, sh. Why are you crying, sweetheart?” Chanyeol asked, petting the hair off his forehead, “Baby. Why are you crying? You want to call Mommy? We can call him, my little prince. Sh, oh, Kookie.” 

They’d never even seen the boy cry, and as far as Chanyeol knew Baekhyun hadn’t seen Jungkook cry, much less sobbing in the tub and not even acknowledging the toys the adult was setting in the water.

Instead Jungkook cried harder and flailed a hand out when Chanyeol tried to pat his back.

_ “No in! No in bath! Me wash me!” _

Jungkooks words were  _ already  _ hard to understand with the squeakiness of his voice, but when crying it was near impossible, so Chanyeol had no choice but to sit back and watch him cry, spinning a cup of water in the tub and ooing in an attempt to calm him down.

It worked after a few short minutes, the toddlers eyes were bright red as he watched Chanyeol fill up the cup and dump it out.

“Here, baby,” Chanyeol whispered, giving the cup over, “You can do it.”

Jungkook stayed silently watching himself pour out the water with his chin trembling for minutes, tiny fingers turning to grab random bottles of shampoo and conditioner off the side of the tub instead of the toys already inside and floating them around.

It seemed to calm him down, and what was a little mess versus a child's happiness? 

“You want to talk now?” Chanyeol asked, cupping his hand to rub water into Jungkook's hair since the cup was now the toddlers and he had no qualms with that if that’s what the baby liked. “Daddy is listening.” 

Jungkook looked in his own world, but he always tended to, fingers playing with bubbles inside his cup, “Me can.. wash me, pwease?” 

“Okay. But Daddy wants to make sure you don’t get soap in your eyes so he can wash your hair, okay?” 

“Me wash..selp, pwease?” 

Chanyeol startled, confusion overtaking his expression as he looked away from Jungkook's hair to find the toddlers eyes filled with tears and his chin wobbling as if it was freezing cold. “Of course. Who.. who.. why?” 

He didn’t exactly know what to say, to ask, what to wonder.

Baekhyun hadn’t told him of Jungkook saying these sort of things and it was obviously something that would need to be discussed. 

As he was attempting to form thoughts he heard the front door close and footsteps down the hall before only seconds later an exaggerated huff followed by the rustling of bags. 

“Daddy…” 

“Yes?” Chanyeol whispered, hand still holding the wet hair from Jungkook's forehead.

“Lub is  _ bad. _ Bad time.” 

Chanyeol stared at him because he  _ felt  _ Jungkook had more to say.

But what was a four year old to say? To do? How could he communicate when he had such small sentences and words he knew. 

He was vulnerable, and looked like he had no idea why he was upset.

“Hello my loves! I brought dinner and so many cute clothes! Let’s play dress up! I brought us all  _ matching!” _ Baekhyun squealed in the doorway, head peeking around the corner with a beaming grin, “And  _ look!  _ Our Jungkookie is getting all clean, Mommy missed you, angel!” 

Jungkook smiled really wide even if he burst into a stream of tears seconds later, and Chanyeol had so much to say.

But Baekhyun’s quick reaction to instantly freak out at the tears let him know he hadn’t seen the same things Chanyeol did.

That didn’t mean they weren’t  _ concerning. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there may be people reading this that may feel upset or have undergone such events depicted here, my email is always open if you ask for it and just want to talk (it doesn’t have to be just about this, but in general also)
> 
> Ps, I’ll be rearranging the stories around, let me know what you want posted next based on their short tiny sentences (I’m running out of characters on the summary already fml)


	26. Dark (Adopt)

“Minseok said that they were still combing the house. I mean how many drugs can one man  _ have?”  _ Baekhyun hissed.

Chanyeol yawned, rolling over to check the time on his phone.

It was way  _ too  _ late for Baekhyun’s ranting sessions, but he did have a point.

It’d been over two weeks, that was  _ too long  _ to still be going through a shitty house for drugs.

But, then again, it seemed Jungkook's  _ father  _ wasn’t one to just be home alone.

That made it even worse when Jungkook was neglected, others had  _ knew  _ the boy was there and what? Did drugs in front of him? Didn’t feed him or play with him? Didn’t even acknowledge him?

“Babe, come here. We can get a hold of Minseok later.” 

“No,” Baekhyun both sighed and growled, climbing into bed with an angry snarl similar to a puppy’s, “I’ll fucking call  _ the cops  _ and demand an update. I mean we’re his foster parents we have  _ privileges  _ to that kind of information, right?” 

“Oh, speaking of that, I’ve been meaning to ask you-“

The quietest of knocks came onto the door, the smallest of knuckles hitting wood before not even a second later the door was cracking open and a tiny head peeled through nervously.

Jungkook was so  _ cute,  _ it was hard to not see the little boy, so it was nearly impossible to imagine him being ignored so much.

“Hey, little bug,” Chanyeol rubbed his eye, “It’s past bedtime, baby.” He added, standing up and climbing off the bed.

Jungkook looked nearly scared when Chanyeol pulled the door open all the way, small hands tugging his top over his pajamas in a way that led Chanyeol to think maybe he’d had an accident.

“Handsome boy, Mommy might just pass out over here!” Baekhyun chirped, “You want to come see Mommy?” 

“.. bear said… no work…” Jungkook muttered.

Chanyeol clicked his tongue because it was his fault he forgot to change the batteries in the portable night light, he’d forgotten to go to the store and get more.

And, as any child, Jungkook didn’t like the dark.

Well, in general, people tended to not like the dark so that  _ was  _ a common fear, it wasn’t just limited to children.

“Okay, little one,” Chanyeol soothed, petting his hair, “I can fix-“

“Baby can sleep with us tonight!” Baekhyun argued, a small pout on his lips at Chanyeol, batting his lashes.

They both  _ knew  _ they shouldn’t. 

But this was just a toddler and he didn’t have any other lights in his room.

Chanyeol gritted his teeth because he knew Baekhyun wanted as he did - but they’d had yet to speak of it yet - and he didn’t want to get their hopes up because Jungkook's father hadn’t even gone to prison yet; they didn’t know if they could adopt him, it was too soon to tell.

And it was already too late not to get attached to his doe eyes.

“No seep appa!” Jungkook yelled, much louder than they’d  _ ever  _ heard him do before, falling onto his bottom in his scatter backwards, tripping on the end of his spider man bottoms. 

Baekhyun’s mouth was agape in shock while Chanyeol felt he’d nearly had a heart attack at how fast Jungkook had tried to get away, heart racing as he sat down on the carpet.

“Okay, okay, Kook. We aren’t appa, just Daddy and Mommy and you’re  _ Jungkook. _ Remember? You’ve been here a long time and have so many toys in your toy chest, remember? Mommy played cars with you after dinner, baby.” Chanyeol soothed, ranting nonsense because it seemed whatever Jungkook was scared of didn't want to be talked about.

The toddler started crying quietly, nodding his head a couple times causing his tears to trail down his neck.

“I love you. We love you so much, sweetheart,” Chanyeol whispered, gently reaching over to tug Jungkook's fingers, “Do you know what that means?” 

He heard Baekhyun make a concerned noise but also knew the other was more of the sensitive type and was likely crying because Jungkook was scared.

Baekhyun was more the parent that reacted similarly to the circumstance which was different to Chanyeol because the other needed to be focused in order to calm the child down.

Baekhyun would much rather just cry with him, but that  _ was not  _ the best parenting method.

“Mean..” Jungkook wiped his nose with his knuckles too rough that the skin turned red and they’d probably put some lotion onto his nose so he didn’t crack the thin skin from being so rough. “.. means bad an no good.” 

“No,” Chanyeol whispered, gently standing Jungkook up to hug his stomach to his chest, allowing the toddlers wobbly legs to give out on him and just cuddling him in a hug. “It means we take care of you, and that’s  _ good.  _ You don’t need to love us, but we love you, and we’re going to make sure very  _ bad  _ things don’t happen to you.” 

A small fist hit his chest, almost like an angry hit, but much less than anything more than Jungkook having a small fit, flailing and sobbing, small body throwing himself around and relying on Chanyeol to form him back into a cradle at his chest.

Jungkook didn’t  _ have  _ fits. He didn’t do these things, he always listened.

So they didn’t feel the need to tell him to stop because he was so  _ mad. _

He was so afraid. 

“Oh, my little bunny,” Baekhyun was jumping off the bed and rushing over, tossing himself to the carpet to hug around Chanyeol's shoulders, squishing the toddler between them and petting his curls, “Sweet boy. My precious boy. Mommy and Daddy have you, pumpkin.” 

Jungkooks small body went limp with tears, tired and Baekhyun couldn’t see if he was sleeping or not after a good twenty minute of sitting there and listening to the child’s heavy breathing. 

“What should we  _ do?”  _ The smaller of the two adults whispered, sitting back to pet Jungkook's spine soothingly, eyes full of unshed tears. 

Chanyeol sighed and gently rolled Jungkook off his shoulder and into the crook of his arm.

The poor boy's face was flushed pink, mouth slightly open with soft snoring coming from them and drying tear streaks on his cheeks.

“I don’t know, baby.” The man whispered, using his empty hand to cup Baekhyun’s cheek, “But we can deal with it in a few hours, okay?” 

“I.. okay..” Baekhyun whispered reluctantly, turning to kiss his palm before climbing to his knees and gently scooping the toddler out of Chanyeol's lap and walking towards the bed.  _ “My Jungkookie. Mommy has you, and Daddy is going to make sure no nightmares for you, buggie.”  _

Chanyeol rubbed his eyes and knew they  _ couldn’t  _ and  _ wouldn’t  _ give Jungkook up. 


	27. Urgent (Adopt)

Jungkook was clingier today, as expected given his long night filled with tiny cries that woke everyone up to deal with his nightmares for only a few minutes and put him back to bed.

Strange enough, Minseok hadn’t answered when they’d tried to get a hold of him when the man was literally obsessed with his electronics.

And again, they’d gotten a no answer from the cell number for the  _ lead detective  _ as it said on their list of numbers.

They wanted to be sure they were doing the right steps and didn’t call anyone else in case they’d do something wrong and ruin their chances of adopting Jungkook.

“Play?” 

Baekhyun laughed at the small fingers tugging on his pajamas, kneeling down to scoop up the toddler, “How about breakfast? Then we can play toys and toys and  _ more toys!” _

Jungkook scrunched his nose up cutely with a giggle, nodding with puffy eyes from sleep.

“Say  _ Daddy I’m so hungry!”  _ Baekhyun cried with a laugh, setting the toddler onto his seat that had a couch pillow underneath for an extra boost, even then Jungkook's chin just barely came over the edge of the table, his little hands crawling up to grab his cup of milk.

“Daddy food pwease!” The boy squealed, giggling time himself and nearly dropping his plastic cup.

Chanyeol snorted from the stove, turning to send Baekhyun a scolding look which was met with a bright grin and a cocky wink, “Don't teach him to be as obnoxious as you.” 

“What is… obn- on… obb-“

“It’s Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said instantly, “Mommy is  _ obnoxious.  _ I’ll teach you how to say it one day,” He smirked, bringing a frog snapped plate over to the toddler first.

Truthfully, Baekhyun was more like a child as he grumbled and sent Chanyeol an intense sulk, kicking around his calf when the man came for set the two plates down at the table.

“Yah! Don’t kick me! Jungkookie! Mommy is being mean!” Chanyeol whined, pinching his husbands ear before avoiding the smack aimed at him to take his seat on the other side of the toddler.

Jungkooks face popped up from his plate, wide eyed and yellow eggs sitting on his chin, “Not nice.” 

“It’s not nice, very good. My smart boy, Daddy loves you, pumpkin.” 

The coo was met with a shy, scrunched shoulder smile before the toddler was ducking his head to shove his spoon into his mouth some more, crumbs trailing all the way off the wood table onto the floor.

What could you really expect from a child? Paper towels and a swiffer were much appreciated. 

“Mommy is bery not nice!” Jungkook giggled, tossing his plastic spoon onto the table and moving to sit on his knees and popping a few more inches over the table. 

“That’s so mean! Hurting my feelings like that, gosh!” Baekhyun whined, laying his cheek down dramatically on the table, “Jungkookie is  _ mean!” _

The toddler burst in a fit of giggles, nearly sliding out of his seat like this was so  _ hilarious  _ had Chanyeol not grabbed his side with his own laugh.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol shared a look because Jungkook wasn’t normally so happy.

He had latched instantly, maybe too  _ over trusting,  _ but they wouldn’t complain given that Jungkook was their baby so of course they wanted him to trust them.

But it had been so  _ fast,  _ literally as soon as they’d given him a room and toys pretty much.

A bit concerning.

“Let’s finish eating and-“

The phone ringing cut Chanyeol off making the man frown and roll his eyes a bit as he climbed to his feet.

“Let’s let Daddy talk, lets watch cartoons, angel!” Baekhyun beamed, jumping from his spot.

“Yay!” 

“Yay!” The smaller adult yelled twice as loud, accepting the toddler whose arms were held high and cheeks pink with excitement.

Chanyeol snorted at the two as he grabbed the kitchen phone, turning to lean against the counter to watch Baekhyun be much louder than Jungkook as they “argued” over shows. 

“Hello?” 

Truthfully he sort of didn’t want to answer and instead wanted to join Jungkook's whispers of  _ Abengers!  _

_ “Hello, this is Oh Sehun, I’m in charge of the case-“ _

“I know who you are.” Chanyeol sighed, “We have some…  _ information  _ that we’re not sure how to deal with, we tried to contact our social worker earlier, but have yet to hear anything.” 

_ “Kim Minseok is here, he actually… we found some new information, and we need Jungkook to be brought in.”  _

“What?” Chanyeol asked in a hiss like tone, “You want us to bring a four year old in for what? We won’t bring him anywhere where we don’t know what’s happening.” 

His tone must have been a bit loud as Baekhyun’s eyes were peering over the couch with a confused brow, a head of black curls under his chin as Jungkook obliviously watched cartoons.

_ “We.. cannot speak about it over the phone, but i'm assuming your information needs to be told to us anyways. Can you make it to the station?” _

“Now?”

_ “How urgent of information do you have to give?”  _

Very urgent.

Chanyeol swallowed difficulty and nodded before realizing that he couldn’t be seen, “We’ll be there soon.” He answered and instantly hung up, running a palm across his face.

“Babe?” Baekhyun called.

“We need to get dressed,” The other said as he walked towards the back of the couch to press a kiss to his husband's forehead, “Urgent news, Baekhyun.” 


	28. Officer (Adopt)

Urgent news wasn’t how to describe the situation. 

This wasn’t something that could be fixed and redone.

In fact, it was something that they were unprepared to deal with.

Sure, they’d had a few teenagers with unruly personalities before, even one with sticky fingers and a snake-like tongue of lies.

But never something like this. 

“So you’re telling me-“

Chanyeol had to grab Baekhyun’s wrist to prevent the smaller from going on a rampage when their toddler was playing on the floor not even a room away, making the noises under his breath and oblivious about the situation.

Jungkook didn’t really seem to care what was happening or going on and always had very big smiles when they went anywhere, so when the couple had carried him into the station he just smiled at Minseok before cooing a,  _ “Play toy now?”  _

“-you’re telling me that  _ my baby..”  _

Chanyeol had been waiting for it, the burst of tears that followed the burning anger, the simmer in the pit of their stomachs. 

And it exploded in the form of Baekhyun’s hands shaking as he turned around to clutch Chanyeol's top and hide in his chest with his body shaking, it was what the smaller  _ always did.  _

He’d always gone to him for comfort ever since they were kids, and this wasn’t any different.

Only the situations were.

This wasn’t Baekhyun crying because he was made fun of for his  _ admittedly  _ dorky glasses in tenth grade nor him being upset nobody asked him to prom.

This was a different thing entirely, a stomach churning pain that made the couple want to puke.

Because to say Jungkook was a victim of sexual abuse was not something as light, not in the slightest, and to tell them they’d found photographs of the boy was not something that could be unheard.

As far as they knew Jungkook had just been neglected, he had a lot of nightmares, he wanted a lot of attention, he said some strange things, but this  _ wasn’t  _ something that was their first assumption.

It wouldn’t be any parents first assumption, because it was disgusting and  _ cruel. _

“Did you guys ask him anything? To tell you any information?” 

“Yes, because this was what we  _ expected?” _ Chanyeol hissed sarcastically, arms holding his husband up before shaking his head, “No. Of course not. He’d only said some odd things, we didn’t have any  _ suspicions  _ about this.” 

Minseok nodded approvingly, “Good. It can be seen as coaching if you’d asked things, children have well.. they’d want to tell you what they think you want to hear, so if you phrase things certain ways it may sway them.” 

“Jungkook is four years old,” Baekhyun whimpered, turning around to wipe his eyes raw, “The only thing he wants is a kiss  _ good morning  _ and to hear that he can watch cartoons before breakfast. We can’t.. there’s..” 

“We brought in a psychologist,” Sehun cleared his throat, walking in to set a few forms on the table, “We need you to sign off on these so that we can have him interviewed and recorded. We also have forms if you’d like to have him go to the hospital-“

“For what?” Chanyeol growled, “So he can be poked at and prodded? As if he hasn’t gone through enough? The.. the photographs should be enough evidence, what can a four year old tell you? Jungkook doesn’t even like to talk on a daily basis, he’s not going to talk to some stranger about things he knows aren’t right. Children know when something isn’t right, and I can  _ assure you _ that the things we’ve heard him say let us know that he knows too.” 

“So what?” The officer murmured, “You want to let him get away with this? Child pornography has much different charges than molestation, we need to hear what he has to say.” 

They both knew they needed to.

But it was so much, it was all a lot to take in.

Even standing in a police station suddenly didn’t feel as safe as it did moments before and when someone explained things as if  _ the world was falling apart,  _ they were right. 

It was for them.

Even if it wasn’t at all and Jungkook was humming noises on a paw patrol blanket in the corner, happy to just be by himself even though the tension in the room was real and  _ heavy.  _

Of course the boy was likely used to such an atmosphere because even when Chanyeol was hissing he wasn’t even looking up to acknowledge it.

“I get to be in there,” Baekhyun growled despite being all tears.

“Baekhyun,” Minseok tsked softly, because they both knew it wasn’t possible. 

“I… I get to listen?” He tried again, “Through the window?” 

It wasn’t a good idea, it wasn’t something either of them wanted to hear or know, what had happened, but things were important to understand. 

And Jungkook was too young to stand trial and too young to properly answer questions on the stand, so this was the best they could do. 

“We want a restraining order if he’s allowed on bail,” Chanyeol began, nudging Baekhyun to the side to begin sorting papers, “We want files for his custody starting to process now, we won’t  _ risk  _ him being sent to any of that  _ sick family.  _ We want confidentiality of our address and other personal documentation. No internal investigators will have access to his information, hear me? We don’t want his information out unless it’s for his case of trial. We won’t speak to the news or anything close. It’s bad enough that the man is on every television screen for having so many drugs, the last thing we need is for people to recognize Jungkook as a victim of such assaults, this information doesn’t come out until his case.” 

“We can’t  _ guarantee  _ that, sir. Technically all sides of the case are allowed access to information and whatever they can find.” 

“Then we will only do this interview  _ one time,”  _ Baekhyun demanded, “We won’t do more, and we don’t want details out, okay? This is it and Jungkook gets therapy if the psychologist thinks he needs it. That’s it. We won’t sign anything until then.” 

_ “Daddy?”  _

Chanyeol was kneeling down to collect the boy instantly, scooping Jungkook up to rest on his hip and cupping his head to kiss his hair, “What’s wrong, pumpkin?” 

Jungkook pouted his lips cutely and laid down on his chest, fingers wringing together, “Snack time.” 

It was a  _ nice  _ break, a distraction from the tense atmosphere.

Chanyeol nearly cried as he laughed into the soft curls and kissed his cheek, “Whatever you want, Kookie. Mommy will go find you snacks, bunny.” 

The toddler screeched a happy giggle and scrunched his nose up at another kiss to his little face.

******

“It’s going to take a while for the paperwork to be approved.” 

Baekhyun barely made a noise of acknowledgement, eyes watching Jungkook in the small room.

It wasn’t  _ ideal  _ to interview a toddler in a room that usually held suspects, he was running around and bringing toys to the table and completely ignoring the psychologist introducing himself with a cheerful  _ hi, my name is Kim Junmyeon, and I hear your name is Jungkook? _

Jungkook didn’t truly ignore though, he always listened, he was just very good at pretending not to. 

“I’m really… Baekhyun, I’m really sorry, but he’s going to be okay.”

“I’m really not in the mood right now,” Baekhyun said, eyes raw as he turned Minseok, “We appreciate your help, really, we love him. But how can- if his father was here right now I’d  _ kill him.  _ I’m in a fucking police department, and I wouldn’t give a  _ fuck.  _ Perhaps I’m just.. blinded right now, but Jungkook is  _ innocent  _ and the fucking pedophile…”

“He’s young and he's getting treatment, he’s going to be okay,” The social worker assured, “You guys will have to provide the victim impact statement, trial won’t be for months, but maybe have your anger be heard where it can actually be used to hurt someone..” 

“How can a man with no feelings be hurt with words? The thing I feel right now can’t be described as anger, nor pain, nor.. sadness. Jungkook is  _ young,  _ sure, but that doesn’t make these things any easier to swallow. Thank you, Minseok, please keep in touch about the paperwork, and send Chanyeol this way when he’s done with statements.” 

The social worker nodded stiffly, expression apologetic as he patted Baekhyun’s shoulder and walked down the hall because it was obvious the other wasn’t going to do much but either hiss or cry. 

At least it didn’t take them long to convince Baekhyun to sign papers while Chanyeol was all glares and suspicion as he continued demands that seemed near impossible.

Even if they wanted to make good on some of them, there was only so much they could be promised in the end.

_ “Where Daddy?”  _

Baekhyun watched Jungkook set his Spider-Man doll onto the table before throwing a leg up the side of his chair to climb up. 

“Your Dad is busy right now, but he sent me to come talk to you, is that okay?” 

Jungkooks mouth pouted a bit and he looked vaguely upset as he shrugged,  _ “an Mommy?” _

“Your Mom is also a little busy. But we have some things to talk about, Jungkook. Do you feel like talking?” 

_ “Bout toys?”  _ Jungkook asked, a tiny smile on his face as he sat his doll up onto its feet, the same hopeful grin he had before he asked to play.

“It’s a very nice toy, but I have some other questions for you, okay?”

_ “Okay.”  _

“Okay. Now, I need you to tell only the truth, Jungkook, do you know what that means?” 

The toddler scrunched up his nose,  _ “No lie..”  _

“That’s right, no lying, can you do that?” 

Jungkook nodded, looking around the room some more,  _ “Daddy say no lying… w.. want see him.”  _

Baekhyun was instantly upset he couldn’t go in there, and knew soon Chanyeol would come storming down demanding they be let in if he saw how sad Jungkook looked.

“You can see him in a bit, Jungkook, for now I have some questions for you. Do you remember your father? Before this?” 

Jungkook looked like he shut down instantly, wide eyes going wider as he squeezed his doll to his chest,  _ “No go pwease, want Mommy.”  _

God, Baekhyun wanted to see him too, chewing at his nail as he watched through the window.

“Why don’t you want to go to your old father, Jungkook?” Junmyeon asked softly.

_ “Cuz.. cuz don’t like.”  _

“You don’t like him? Why don’t you like him?”

Jungkook shrugged, little shoulders by his ears as he leaned over the table to grab the empty notebook from Junmyeon as if it was his, the man let him take it easily though, giving his pen over too.  _ “Sometime too lub.”  _

“What’s that mean?” 

_ “umm…”  _ The boy dropped his toy as he sat up on his knees to hold the pen in an uncoordinated fist,  _ “Too lub.. like.. not Daddy Mommy lub and sometime.. dark, yup.”  _

“How did you feel living with him?” 

Jungkook had a tiny kink in his brow as he scribbled random and hard circles onto the paper,  _ “No good, no play, juss sometime it okay. Like Mommy bettew.”  _

“Why do you like your new Mom better?”

_ “No bath wash an...”  _

“Tell me what you remember, Jungkook.” 

Jungkook didn’t seem to like that at all as he dropped his pen completely and started shuffling from his chair,  _ “Mommy, Daddy now pwease.”  _

Baekhyun was already walking down the hall readying to order an officer to unlock the door because this obviously was going nowhere without one of them with him, but Chanyeol met him halfway, silently grabbing his shoulders. 

“Need it opened,” Baekhyun demanded, narrowing eyes at Sehun, “He’s not going to say anything trapping him in there with a stranger.” 

The officer sighed and started pulling his keys out.

By then, they could hear that Jungkook was getting worked up by the door.

And they were met with the tearful little boy as soon as the door opened.

“Sh, Mommy is back, Mommy is here,” Baekhyun soothed, kneeling down to scoop him up, “It’s okay, Jungkookie.” 

“Nobody is here to get you in trouble, pumpkin,” Chanyeol assured as he took a seat where the toddler had crawled up moments ago, nodding his head for Baekhyun to come over as the door was locked behind them. 

“How about we talk together, huh?” Junmyeon asked carefully, reminding the couple that he had a job to do and as soon as this was over they could get home.

Jungkook clutched fingers around Baekhyun’s neck as the adult took a seat beside Chanyeol, scooting their chairs closer and setting the boy onto where their thighs pressed together, petting his soft hair, “Are you scared?” 

Baekhyun knew they said it was best they didn’t be in the interview, but they’d have to accept what they could because there was no way they’d get a peep from Jungkook without them here.

He was just too young to understand and what little he did say had been accidents.

“Jungkookie, anything you say to Mommy and Daddy and anything you say to the Doctor doesn’t mean you will be in trouble, okay?” Chanyeol murmured, “Has someone ever told you to keep something a secret before? If you tell us then you won’t be in trouble at all, so let’s talk to the nice man, angel.” 

They weren’t coaching, they weren’t trying to do anything.

But Jungkook's tears were  _ real,  _ and even if he couldn’t fully explain, hopefully what he could would be enough explanation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this I am skimming over details and ideas, because this book was originally supposed to be all fluff, but as you guys can tell in Survival of the Broken, childhood sexual abuse has no small impact, it’s different for everyone of course, the circumstances are different obviously for Jungkook versus Baekhyun from that story, but the impact is still THERE no matter the form or whether it’s unconscious or not. 
> 
> I ended up cutting a lot of scenes from this, dancing around from issues of children projecting onto toys, things - people, because they have no voice when they can’t communicate properly. 
> 
> I cut scenes of Jungkook being angry with toys and aggression with himself, times in which he had “questionable” habits or ideas like not wanting clothes or doing things children his age shouldn’t, but the truth is there, and it’s REAL even if this is only a story.


	29. Stay (Adopt)

“Fish! Daddy, fish! Fishie!”

Chanyeol laughed as he adjusted the hat on his head, releasing Baekhyun’s hand to reach up and wipe Jungkook's cheek clean of candy as the toddler sat on the others shoulders, “They're jelly fishes, Jungkookie! So pretty, right?”

“So pwetty!” 

“Like Mommy, huh?” 

Baekhyun turned to smack Chanyeol's arm with a blush, one hand holding Jungkook's ankle as the toddler leaned over his head. 

“Like Mommy!” 

“He agrees!” Chanyeol whined defensively, “So aggressive, Baek, gosh.” 

The smaller grumbled with a blush in response smiling happier when Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his temple. 

“See dolpin?” Jungkooks little head popped down to look at Baekhyun upside down, putting strain on the others head making the man grunt, but even if his neck was crying it was worth it for the boys bright grin, “Mommy dolpin time?” 

“Dolphin time, sugar,” Baekhyun cooed easily, wrapping both hands around Jungkooks ankles to keep him up as he started walking along, “Mommy does  _ love  _ dolphins, Daddy likes the seals though, so let’s go watch a show, baby.” 

Jungkook gasped dramatically, fingers pulling on his hair, _ “Sheal!” _

*******

Jungkook was eating French fries across the booth, normally he’d be tired after such a long day of playing and jumping around, tired of squealing and laughing at all the animals in the aquarium.

Because this had to be the happiest he’d ever been.

But instead the boy was smiling and even if he’d fallen asleep for a few minutes in the car, he looked a bit tired as he kept wiping his eyes with the flat of his hand.

Other than that nobody would be the wiser because Jungkook was all smiley and happy, squeezing his new jellyfish stuffed animal under his arm that would need to be washed with the few drops of ketchup on its head. 

He deserved to be this happy and spoiled with everything he’d gone through the last few weeks, all of the back and forth from therapy - Minseok had gotten in touch with an excellent clinic and Jungkook didn’t have anything bad to say about his therapist Yixing at all, but he did look a bit upset the first time he noticed Sehun and Jongin, officers, were sitting in and occasionally he asked why Junmyeon kept coming by to see him.

He asked a lot of things these days.

_ Why appa bad? _

_ Daddy. What to touch private mean?  _

_ So weird, Mommy, why have to go?  _

But it was working and Jungkook was actually much more social than he had led on in the beginning.

Yixing had said that the effect of abuse on children was very different in every child and that Jungkook was forming a lot of attachments likely because that’s how he was coping - because it was all he knew, to  _ trust  _ for no reason, to seek the attention he had never truly gotten. 

Maybe it was his way of trying to tell them what happened.

Or trying to get rid of the attention he  _ had  _ been given.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun cried often, late when Jungkook was asleep, they cried when there was a break and Jungkook said things he couldn’t understand like that  _ appa say he lub me, don’t like lub.  _

Because they finally understood what he meant.

Thankfully, after an examination they hadn’t wanted to do and after rigorous questioning such as  _ did he ever put anything in places they don’t belong? Where did you feel touched?  _ They had found out Jungkook had been touched, he’d been scared and confused, but he wasn’t penetrated in any way.

Still, it didn’t make things easier, because the horrors were that their precious boy had been a victim of horrendous abuse and child pornography, he’d been subjected to things nobody should ever have to be.

All for sick minds.

“Kookie, do you remember when Minseok brought you to us, he said that you would stay with us for a little bit, right?”

Chanyeol looked up from his plate with a laugh, reaching over to settle the boy back into the booth and pass the cup he had been reaching for over before the table was full of milk. 

Jungkook drank rather loudly, his chin dripping milk as he smashed it down on the table with a big smile, “Min say  _ new parent.”  _

“That’s right, do you like staying with us?” Baekhyun added, nervously squeezing Chanyeol's hand over his thigh.

“Yup!” Jungkook chirped obliviously, bringing his jellyfish onto the table and adding to it's stains when it landed in a drip of milk, “Lots toy, lots talk, lots lots lots!”

“Do you..” Chanyeol swallowed hard, “.. you want to stay with us forever?” 

Jungkook looked a bit confused and of course it would be hard to explain something like this to a mere four year old.

“It means.. Mommy and Daddy can always be your Mommy and Daddy even when you get very big, Jungkookie.” Baekhyun murmured tearfully, “Because we love you so much and want you to grow very big and do good things.”

_ “Kay Mommy.”  _

It was such a simple, simple thing to say, such a  _ Jungkook  _ thing to say.

Baekhyun laughed and it came out watery as he practically climbed over Chanyeol's lap to coddle the toddler in a hug. 

“You’re such a  _ crybaby,”  _ Chanyeol muttered, tucking his face into Baekhyun’s arm.

“Shut up I can  _ feel  _ your tears you know, babe.” 


	30. Plans (Adopt)

“Did you figure out the rest of the victim impact statement?” Baekhyun asked as he walked into the dimly lit living room, wrapping his arms right around the back of Chanyeol's neck as the other types on his tablet. 

“I might have made it too angry. Your part was too nice I just.. he doesn’t deserve that, Baekhyun. He’s sick and disgusting, he doesn’t get to know these things about Jungkook.” 

“I was making him feel bad,” The smaller mumbled, climbing over the arm of the couch to worm between the arm of the couch and Chanyeol's hip, tossing legs across the others lap and laying against his chest.

The other man hummed, tossing his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders to give the tablet over, “Do people like that even  _ have  _ feelings?” 

“Who knows,” Baekhyun sighed, pressing a soft kiss to the others mouth tiredly before smiling when it was met with two more. 

“Read it,” Chanyeol urged, patting Baekhyun’s thigh gently and resting his chin upon his shoulder.

Nodding, Baekhyun got his eyes adjusted to the blue light of the screen and cleared his throat.

“He likes to read The Little Prince before bed. He likes to sing songs and dance. He likes to wake up to hugs and toys waiting for him. His favorite candy is peach flavored gummies, because he’s never had them before, but you wouldn’t know. 

He is beginning preschool within the next year, he’s behind, but is very bright. He wants to be an astronaut, but the next day he wants to be a dancer. His favorite animal right now is a lion, but who knows how long that will remain.

He wakes up in terror often, a bad man chases him around in his nightmares. He has accidents and shuts down when he can’t figure out his emotions. He’s scared to death of the dark and doesn’t like to just simply sit on beds with anyone but us. 

These are things you wouldn’t know. 

Whether you didn’t care to, didn’t understand them, or just ignored them. 

These are the only things you’ll ever know of him, and we want you to know that you’re the bad man that terrorizes him at night and sneaks into his bed, but you’re not going to terrorize him forever.

Jungkook is not your son, he’s not a child to take advantage of nor is he broken in anyway. 

You’ve stolen things from him, taken away a piece of his innocence in a sense, but you haven’t destroyed his life, because in years to come he won’t know who you are - what you’ve done. He will only know his parents and family, and you are not his family. 

Parents shouldn’t have to explain to a four year old what drugs were, why they are bad, why his father is bad. 

We shouldn’t have to explain to him that it’s not okay for someone to touch him in private areas nor the proper names for these areas in order to accurately interpret his experiences.

We shouldn’t have to take him to therapy twice a week just so we can try and make sure what has happened to him won’t affect the bright future he has.

But we have to, and it’s your fault, and you should know that. 

You’re no innocent man driven by drug use and money, but a sick man that deserves to be right where he is, there’s no excusing your actions and what potential crimes you would have and did commit on Jungkook. 

He’s a victim of an adult's malicious intentions, but he’s not damaged. You should know that.-“

_ “Daddy?” _

A pair of legs wobbling tiredly stomped into the living room, a huge avengers onesie drowning the boys little form as he swiped fingers over his bobbing eyes.

“Jungkookie, hi, pumpkin,” Chanyeol greeted softly, “It’s early for you to be up, baby.” 

Jungkook opened and closed his eyes like he wasn’t quite awake yet before putting his arms up beside the arm of the couch, “Seep.. Mommy Daddy.” 

Smiling, Baekhyun leaned over to pick him up with an exaggerated groan, “You can sleep a bit more, sugar, Mommy and Daddy were just thinking so much about you,” He cooed, pinching Jungkooks nose softly.

“Weally?”

“Oh definitely,” Chanyeol murmured, petting the hair from his forehead as Baekhyun laid him down in his lap, “Lots of things to get our Kookie for Christmas and lots of school things. Always thinking about our baby.” 

“Wan.. wan from Santa.. more..” Jungkook was nearly falling asleep before he released a tiny whine at the petting of his head to put him back to sleep, pushing Chanyeol's hand off with a grumbling expression as if he hadn’t nearly passed out mid sentence. 

“Go ahead, handsome.  _ I  _ listen to you,” Baekhyun soothed, earning a pinch to his side from his husband. 

Jungkook pouted his lips, “Wan.. brother to play toys.” 

Both adults startled at the sudden request. 

Neither of them had really considered such a thing given the months it had taken for them to get things situated with Jungkook, and Minseok sure as hell had not been asking if they had room given his father's trial was soon.

It was bad enough that they’d been getting calls from news outlets for statements after someone had leaked their information - something Chanyeol had  _ raged  _ about at the police station.

They knew it was a big case, out of their control, but so long as nobody was wiser to their names things would be okay. 

“Love you, go back to bed,” Chanyeol crooned, going back to petting his forehead and this time Jungkook looked more than happy to just accept that he was going to sleep fast. 

“You know… there was a little be named Taehyung back at the center last I checked in… had a very cute smile… Minseok was calling everyone in his books...” 

“You’re kidding,” Chanyeol said with a slight laugh, “Baek. I can’t get attached to another foster child.” 

Baekhyun pouted, “But Jungkook is no foster child anymore, who’s to say Taehyung can’t be either?” 

“You’re a monster and you always have a point.” 

“That’s why you love me. Plus, I’ve heard I’m pretty a few times.” 

“You know, you really are obnoxious and if Jungkook wasn’t asleep right now I would be pushing you off my lap.” 

“That is  _ rude, Yeol!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s no easy route of recovery for anyone, we can never determine the outcome of someone’s actions on someone’s future. 
> 
> We can only hope
> 
> Also, I’m taking a few days break again, yes there is still two more chapters in the puppy story


	31. Weather (Helping Hand)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes people just need a helping hand, it didn’t hurt to at least try to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a domestic abuse story, I was like.. I always torture Baek, let’s do a Chanyeol... oomph. But really, this is based on the song Must Have Been The Wind by Alec Benjamin

Baekhyun had just moved into a new place.

See, he was a bit of a loser truthfully.

But he also was a YouTuber with a variety of different things on his channel. 

Usually it was gaming, that was what had gotten him so popular, but he added a few very horrible videos of him trying to cook recently and they got millions of views, and a few vlogs of him being the complete weirdo he was were very popular on fan sites.

Recently, he’d hit five million subscribers and as a “celebration” he’d gotten his own apartment leaving his roommate behind (although Jongdae hassled him still and came to invade his new place). 

Baekhyun had been here a week and he’d realized a few things right off the bat.

One, he would definitely need to start making more cooking vlogs because they’d gotten him a _big_ check, and his new kitchen didn’t look as shitty as his old one all.

And two, his bedroom was way too big along with his apartment and he very much was searching pounds and rescue centers for a dog to fill the space.

And finally, his neighbors were _loud._

Technically not his neighbors, but the people directly below him were extremely loud.

Now, it was eleven o’clock at night and just as he was closing his eyes he heard glass slamming and startled.

It sounded _loud,_ and he could even hear crying through the flooring.

Baekhyun was too worried to go back to sleep.

He tossed in a hoodie, slippers, and grabbed his keys, and was quick to make his way to an elevator.

It was on the main floor of the building, the apartment was at the end of the hall just beside all the mailboxes. The door was chipping and the number eight that hung on the door was just _dangling._

He felt sick to his stomach but knocked on the door a few times. 

It took a long while for someone to answer, but Baekhyun heard shuffling and didn’t leave because he was concerned. 

The man that opened up the door was huge, so much so that he had to crank his neck up to look at him, a head of black hair hung down over almond shaped eyes and the man had his hood pulled over his head.

Baekhyun noticed his eyes were rimmed with red, but didn’t comment. 

He just smiled politely, “Hey.. I’m Byun Baekhyun.. I live just above you. I heard what sounded like.. glass or something breaking.. are you.. you okay?” 

The man didn’t respond or show anything for a moment, eyes flickering over Baekhyun’s face before he chewed his lip before putting a smile across his lips, “No - yeah, no. I’m good. Your ears must be playing tricks on you.” 

Baekhyun parted his lips a small bit, watching the man fiddle with the zipper that was all the way up to his chin. 

“Thanks for caring, that’s nice of you. I gotta go back in.” 

“Wait, wait..” Baekhyun had a bad feeling and laid a hand on the door before it could be shut and just _stared._

The man stared back at him too and Baekhyun could see where he was chewing on the inside of his cheek before he shook his head, “Wish I could tell you about the noise, but I didn’t hear anything.” 

_No._ Baekhyun wanted to say, because he wasn’t crazy.

He wasn’t hearing things.

“Must have been the wind, it’s getting pretty loud out there.” 

_No. No. No._

“What’s your name?” He whispered softly, eyes wide and concerned, arm resting against the door.

“I..Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol.” 

It sounded reluctant and was merely a whisper, but it was a _response_ and it should have made Baekhyun feel better.

Only it didn’t.

“It’s really late. I need to go back in, I’m sorry. Thank you, really.” 

The door was shut on him then and it left Baekhyun staring at the corner of the door frame where Chanyeol just was.

It was old looking and scraped up.

Busted.

 _“It’s not windy outside..”_ Baekhyun muttered, tucking his hands into his hoodie. _“It’s clear.”_

He looked at the peephole on the door, wondering if the man was watching him, waiting for him to leave because he hadn’t heard any steps _away_ from the door, and he could practically hear Chanyeol pacing before having answered in the first place.

“It was nice to meet you, Park Chanyeol.” He said, licking his lips nervously because if he _wasn’t_ there then he was just walking to old wood at eleven thirty at night. 

There was creaking on the other side of the door and it caused Baekhyun to smile a small bit before he heard footsteps walking away and sighed, spinning on his slippers back to the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it seems like their relationship is overlooked, it’s because I am focusing on the abuse aspect rather than how they became friends etc
> 
> Also, I know a lot of people probably won’t read these more realistic ones, so I will try to post it with other stories also.


	32. Hi, Hello (Helping Hand)

Baekhyun wasn’t able to shake his bad feelings away.

Even now, sitting with his back against the cold brick on his balcony and his camera pointed at himself he couldn’t shake the bad feelings away.

But he didn’t  _ know  _ anything. He didn’t know the man.

It could have just been a bad night. He understood that.

Either way, he just hadn’t been in the mood the past few days because now he heard yelling.

Screaming and a woman’s voice screeching high pitched.

He never heard Chanyeol’s voice, but he wasn’t stupid. It was from the same place because his floor rattled with the noises.

“Hey..” He whispered under his breath as he peered over the side of the balcony.

There was the same blue zip up that caught his attention and Baekhyun frowned because it was ninety degrees out. 

“Hey!” He called, shutting off his camera and peeking his head down through the rails, “Chanyeol!”

The man looked around confused until looking up and Baekhyun grinned, laughing, “Hi!” 

Chanyeol waved back at him albeit extremely confused and Baekhyun giggled, “Hold on! I’m coming down!” 

Baekhyun didn’t have any friends here.

He was unused to being alone in a new place as he was a social butterfly.

Why not try to make some friends?

Plus, he was more than suspicious.

He didn’t have any facts though, so there was nothing he could really do or say to a complete stranger.

Baekhyun was fast because he wasn’t sure Chanyeol would listen to his request, but when he came stomping out of the elevator he was pleasantly surprised to see the man  _ had,  _ and was leaning against the wall of the complex with his hood over his face and hands in his pockets.

“Hi!” Baekhyun chirped, “I was just going to go get coffee, you want to join me?” He lied, sucking his lip into his mouth.

He knew he was a bit strong and more than once handled rejection, but Chanyeol peered through his hair with puppy-like eyes before giving a short nod and Baekhyun beamed. “Can you show me where? I just moved in.” 

“Sure. There’s a place just around the corner.” 

Smiling, Baekhyun held his wallet pouch in his hand and followed along quickly because Chanyeol had very long legs. “Are you from here?”

“Yeah. I grew up here, born and raised here.” The other replied softly.

Chanyeol’s voice was  _ very  _ soft even if it was so deep Baekhyun looked at his adams apple despite knowing it was probably creepy.

“Really? What do you do?” He asked, making small talk.

“I uh…” Chanyeol looked sheepish and Baekhyun thought it was rather cute given the man's size, “.. I’m a freelance writer. It’s not very interesting..”

“No, that’s great.” The smaller disagreed, following behind the man into a cafe, “I’m just a gamer, you know how hard it was to convince my mom to let me be a  _ youtuber  _ when I was seventeen _?  _ I mean really, she was under the impression it was a cult site or something.” 

Chanyeol cracked a smile and for some reason it felt like a success and Baekhyun internally cheered as they settled at a table, standing back up intending to go order a drink but Chanyeol didn’t follow suit. “You’re not going to get something?” 

The man's cheeks turned red and he scraped his teeth over his lip before giving a shake of his head, moving his hand to tug his hood over his temple. “Nah.” 

If Baekhyun saw what looked like a cut creeping from where Chanyeol's sleeve slipped down he didn’t say a thing, “Really. I dragged you out here with me, let me buy you something. Food?” 

“Oh, it’s cool.. I was.. was going to take a walk anyways.” 

Baekhyun pouted his lips dramatically, giving the best puppy eyes he could muster up, “Please? I want you to tell me about your writings and be comfortable.” 

He didn’t mention how  _ uncomfortable  _ Chanyeol looked mid summer in a hoodie and joggers, let alone how he could see the light beading of sweat on his temple despite how hard the other was hiding behind his hood.

Chanyeol was a handsome man so Baekhyun wondered what he was doing with that hoodie. 

“I-uh.. I... I’m  _ really  _ not interesting, Baekhyun.” 

“I’m a very good judge of character!” The smaller cried, “And I think you, mister weatherman, must be very interesting!” 

Chanyeol burst into very quiet laughter at the tease, even if Baekhyun had been very serious and it made the smaller giggle too.

“I’m getting us two cold brews and muffins and if you  _ don’t  _ speak up now then forever hold your peace!” 

“That’s fine with me.” 

******

Chanyeol was a bit younger than him. He loved dogs, he was actually more of a content strategist, but didn’t really know the  _ name  _ for such an occupation until Baekhyun said it.

And the man was very quiet. 

He seemed to never say more than what was needed and Baekhyun was  _ talkative  _ so after an hour or two Chanyeol was blabbing.

But Baekhyun was also good at reading people.

And he read a lot from Park Chanyeol.

Mostly, that they had a lot of the same interests.

But also, he was  _ lonely.  _

Baekhyun could pick it up fast because he too had been very much the same before he was popular online.

He was scared to say the wrong things and got flustered if he did, he was always worried about what people would think of how he looked, how he dressed and spoke, he shuffled a lot and wanted friends badly.

Chanyeol messed with his clothes a lot, he tugged and constantly kept checking the time on an old cracked iPhone, he kept making sure to let Baekhyun know he was paying  _ a lot  _ of attention to what he was saying by staring at him intently.

He’d gotten the others' number with promises that they’d hangout soon, so Baekhyun felt it was a winning day.


	33. June (Helping Hand)

Truthfully, Baekhyun already knew.

It was obvious, and as someone that spent a lot of time on the internet it didn’t mean he also didn’t pay attention to his surroundings.

Chanyeol had been hanging out with him at least a few times a week for the past month and a half, never at the man's home, usually either at an arcade or Baekhyun’s house, watching the smaller film something for his channel and asking to borrow movies, wondering aloud how Baekhyun made money doing something he loved.

He was sweet and cute and handsome and- Baekhyu knew he was getting carried away.

Because Chanyeol had a  _ girlfriend.  _

He barely mentioned her, in fact he completely skipped over her more than half the time and Baekhyun didn’t even know what the girl  _ looked  _ like but didn’t like her.

Because he wasn’t dull.

She was abusing Chanyeol.

He’d seen some bruises, but given Chanyeol's sheer size he was positive that the man was more emotionally abused than anything.

He always looked nervous when he asked too many questions and Baekhyun more than once felt Chanyeol was putting himself down over various things.

It wasn’t okay at all.

But it wasn’t his  _ business.  _

Baekhyun wanted it to be though, but he was scared their friendship was too new, too rough for him to mention that he could hear her telling Chanyeol he was ugly.

That he heard the shrill cry of her voice and pots and pans because he sat by his balcony and  _ listened.  _

Because he was worried, and the most he’d heard from Chanyeol was crying.

She undermined him. She screamed and called him a cheater.

She called him disgusting and various other derogatory terms that Baekhyun refused to get into because he was very much a “ _ faggot”  _ as she accused and very much  _ “loved being a gay whore.”  _

They were terms that lead Baekhyun wondering, and in a way  _ hoping,  _ because he wanted to help Chanyeol - his crush didn’t matter at the moment but it was still  _ present.  _

She just sounded so cold hearted and distrustful.

And as far as Baekhyun had heard or been able to tell, Chanyeol never had  _ anyone  _ over.

His phone never even rang once either even when Baekhyun had been having a movie marathon with him and he himself had to reject his friends calls a million times. (Simply because he didn’t want Chanyeol to hear them teasing about the  _ puppy Baekhyun had googly eyes for.) _

They weren’t  _ wrong,  _ but it didn’t matter right now when Chanyeol was his friend and he worried.

Technically, today was the first time he’d ever seen her, and Baekhyun didn’t know if it was her personality as he’d been standing by the mailbox and unlocking his and she nearly  _ shoved  _ past him.

But he thought she was very ugly with a scowl and her face dull and rather well.. unattractive in  _ general.  _

Chanyeol was at  _ least _ a 12/10 and she was maybe a 2/10 with four demoted points for being a homophobic, abusive bitch.

Baekhyun was incredibly biased.

“Hey.” 

“Hey.” He whispered, looking over his shoulder to see Chanyeol awkwardly lingering in his doorway and looking like he was going to say  _ did you see that? _

But he just gave a weak smile and walked to his own mailbox to check it even though Baekhyun could see it was empty and that Chanyeol was staring at his profile.

“She always in a rush?” Baekhyun asked lightheartedly, only barely able to keep the snarl out of his voice. 

“She had a date.” 

Baekhyun frowned and tried his best not to let his sigh be known as he turned to lean against the boxes and look at Chanyeol, “Really?” 

Chanyeol just shrugged and Baekhyun wanted to say so many things.

_ Why do you let her walk on you?  _

_ Why do you put up with this? _

_ You’re so kind, you don’t deserve this. _

Instead, he swallowed thickly, “You want to come play games later?” 

“I.. I have to work, just thought I’d say hi real quick.” Chanyeol responded under his breath.

Baekhyun barely held his smile back and instead sucked on his bottom lip and messed with his Mail between his hands, “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Just thought I’d.. since you were here…” The younger whispered, face lightly painted pink and even just seeing it without a hood over his head - regardless of his unusual sweater during summer - felt like a win.

But it wasn’t  _ winning  _ when there was still a tenseness in the air.

“Chanyeol. We’re friends right?” 

“You’re my only friend, Baekhyun.” 

That just made him feel even more responsibility even though this wasn’t the  _ time,  _ nor the place - nor his fucking business.

And he was scared maybe Chanyeol would totally shut down on him.

But Baekhyun sucked in a big breath, “Is she cheating on you?”  _ Is she hurting you?  _

Chanyeol’s eyes dulled and Baekhyun wondered if he’d completely fucked up, “I mean. I know about it so it’s not really…” 

“But is it  _ okay  _ with you _?” _

Baekhyun didn’t know anything at all about Chanyeol's relationship with June, all he knew was small comments from the other.

_ Sorry, gotta head home and make dinner before June gets back. _

_ Sorry, Baek, I’m a bit busy. I accidentally broke June’s charger. _

_ I can’t come to play today. June has the day off. _

All he knew was he fucking hated  _ June. _

“I don’t think that matters.” Is what Chanyeol said and Baekhyun didn’t have time to respond before the other was shuffling into his apartment and shutting the door.

He should’ve just kept his fucking mouth  _ shut. _


	34. Tears (Helping Hand)

Baekhyun didn’t see Chanyeol for the next week, and thought it was best not to make contact with him and instead focus on him recording his struggles of trying to find the perfect pet for him because his viewers were interested.

Plus, he wasn’t really in the mood to pretend to be happy when nearly every night he just listened to yelling.

It wasn’t his responsibility, and that’s what his best friend Kyungsoo had told him when he’d called to cry because he felt so  _ responsible  _ for making Chanyeol upset.

The thing was, if  _ nobody  _ was going to help him and just turn a blind eye to the abuse then how was Baekhyun  _ not _ responsible if he did the same? 

It  _ was  _ his responsibility as a friend to help. And even then, any decent person would help a person who is being abused, right? 

Baekhyun researched it a lot - domestic violence - and it was nearly always in defense of a woman. 

_ Oh, but Chanyeol's a fully grown man, he couldn’t possibly be abused, right? _

Baekhyun had gotten comments that sounded similar to this thought before. 

He’d had people be mad he was wearing hair clips because he was a man, he’d had viewers bash him for having pink flowers on his balcony even though Baekhyun just  _ liked  _ the color.

It was all  _ sexist.  _

So what if Chanyeol was a man? If he was large? If he was stronger than her? 

It still didn’t give his girlfriend the right to treat him like this and even  _ if  _ Chanyeol spoke back or otherwise did something to anger her it didn’t give her the right to hit him.

Just because he was soft spoken and gentle didn’t mean he should have to stay  _ obedient. _

It wasn’t in Chanyeol's character to be aggressive, it wasn’t in his personality to raise a hand towards anyone.

It was more like him to blush and look nervous when Baekhyun sat too close to him or for him to be really excited when the smaller had the avengers that he apparently hadn’t  _ watched  _ yet.

His gentleness didn’t explain why Baekhyun was coming home late from meeting with his friends and found a large figure leaning against his door.

Abuse was the explanation.

“Hey? Chan? Hey, wake up..” Baekhyun cooed as he walked closer, shifting his keys into his other hand to bend down and touch the man's shoulder, giving a gentle shake. “Chanyeol. Hey-“

His mouth suddenly felt really dry when Chanyeol woke up instantly, because he had a crack in his lip and that  _ wasn’t okay.  _

It  _ mattered.  _

“You weren’t home..” The younger said groggily, and Baekhyun could tell he’d been crying by the rawness on the corner of his eyes and wondered how fucking long Chanyeol had been sitting here. 

“You.. Chanyeol..” Baekhyun whispered painfully, sitting up on his knees to unlock the door over Chanyeol's head, “You should have  _ called me.  _ I’d have come back so fucking fast.” 

“You.. I’m sorry for being rude to you.” 

Baekhyun didn’t reply for a second because he was busy grabbing Chanyeol's surprisingly bare forearm to pull him inside because he couldn’t see shit in the hallway and he definitely planned to look him over. 

But he was opening his door and Chanyeol walked over to the couches as Baekhyun turned nearly every light in the living room on, throwing his wallet onto the table and going to grab some ice. “We’re friends, and you should have called instead of just sitting there, Chan. I’d have come really fast.” 

“You don’t sound very surprised.” 

Baekhyun hated to admit it but he did, “Honey, you weren’t exactly  _ good  _ at hiding it, sweetheart.” He said softly, speed walking around to the living room as he wrapped a towel around the ice pack. 

Chanyeol’s was really red then, and Baekhyun didn’t know if it was because of him crying, his swollen lip, or the confession.

He didn’t care to analyze too much and was kneeling down on his knees, which got an even  _ redder  _ look to Chanyeol's face, and grabbing his arms, “Let me see.” 

“It’s just.. just my lip..” Chanyeol said quietly, but it was a  _ lie  _ because Baekhyun found his forearms all scratched up and irritated - likely from always having sleeves on to rub against them. 

Baekhyun found his eyes tearing up because he couldn’t even  _ imagine  _ what Chanyeol was going through, sniffing and moving to take a seat on the coffee table to press his knees to Chanyeol's. “Don’t lie to me please.” 

“I didn’t,” Chanyeol licked the corner of his mouth and Baekhyun was quick to lift the ice pack up and hold it on the side of his lip and swatted his hands away softly when the younger went to grab it, “Thank you.” 

“I’ll get you clothes in a minute,” He replied softly, fingers on his opposite hand resting over the top of Chanyeol's knee, “Just.. I don’t want you hurting, sweetheart.” 

Chanyeol looked almost guilty, but his hand came over to touch Baekhyun’s fingers over his leg before he was fully wrapping his hand around them. 

And it made the tears stop falling from Baekhyun’s face so fast.

It felt ridiculous to be crying when he wasn’t the one injured, but he felt so  _ guilty.  _

He could  _ hear  _ the abuse but Chanyeol had so many excuses it felt impossible to get an admission.

But it was too much now, to actually hear it - see it.

“Don’t cry over me.” 

Baekhyun released a soft whimper before setting the ice pack down and grabbing Chanyeol's cheek, “Don’t  _ say  _ that. I’m worried, can’t you see that? Of course I’m going to cry over this, over you, because you look like you got in a fight, and that’s not okay, it’s not- how can she think this is okay? I-Chanyeol! I could hear it all, okay? And she was.. so mean and I can’t even - I didn’t know it was this ba-“

“Hey,” Chanyeol's hand was actually very warm for someone that spent an unspecified time in a cold hallway, Baekhyun found himself leaning into it. “Please don’t cry. I-I’ll cry, Baekhyun. Please don’t.” 

They just both ended up in tears.


	35. Story (Helping Hand)

“Baek?” 

Baekhyun hummed and removed his headphones completely as opposed to just the one he had off, “Thank you.” He grinned when Chanyeol set a plate down on his desk.

The past two days Chanyeol had been lingering around, and that was  _ more  _ than fine with Baekhyun as he’d rather have the man sleeping on his couch than where he could hear people screaming.

Even if his friends had given him an entire speech:  _ Baekhyun! You can’t just let strangers stay with you, just get a fucking dog!  _

They didn’t  _ know  _ Chanyeol, and even when Baekhyun had explained the  _ slightest  _ bit to Kyungsoo the other had been all about “Mister sensitive hottie.” 

It wasn’t appropriate given Chanyeol's situation, but he knew it was Kyungsoo's way of saying  _ do what you think is right. _

“Hey uh..” Chanyeol shuffled by his bed for a second, “Can we talk?”

Baekhyun chewed his lip and was quickly saving his things on the computer, “Sure, sweetheart, just let me save these video edits..” 

He saw Chanyeol's reflection still shuffling and giggled, “You can sit on my bed, Chan. I really don’t mind.” 

_ I don’t mind you in my room at all really. _

Baekhyun didn’t have to turn and look to know Chanyeol was blushing, but since he was spinning around in his desk chair anyways he got a nice glimpse of the pretty flush on his face. 

Very handsome even with a healing lip.

“I just.. owe you an explanat-“

“You don’t owe me  _ anything,”  _ Baekhyun cut in softly, crossing his legs to try and appear as small as possible because Chanyeol tended to do the same. “You don’t owe anyone anything, Chanyeol, okay?”

Chanyeol looked like he disagreed so much, but gave a slight nod, fingers twisting in the stripes of Baekhyun’s messy blankets, “I want to tell you.” 

“Okay. That’s  _ different  _ if you want to tell me then of course I want to listen, I’m always listening.” 

The way Chanyeol sucked in a huge breath was both reassuring and  _ sad  _ on so many levels that Baekhyun could mostly just try and keep a small smile of reassurance.

“We.. got together when I was.. twenty three.. she liked to drink, I liked to drink. But we’d been friends for a very long time, years.” 

So, not  _ even  _ a year ago, Baekhyun calculated and frowned.

“.:. But then, I don’t know, I guess it was mostly when I moved in, that we started having.. problems. She.. she spends a lot of money recklessly.. started.. taking my cards, my cash to get alcohol. But I don’t.. half the time I don’t even think she’s  _ drunk,  _ but that’s what she says always.. that she was drunk and she didn’t mean it. It’s.. probably just because she’s buying what her boyfriend likes.. wants. I -I just wasn’t enough and she doesn’t like..  _ me..”  _

“What’s there  _ not  _ to like, Chan?” Baekhyun whispered and knew he was being much too straightforward towards someone who was scared, but he didn’t know what else to say. 

Chanyeol avoided his eyes and he figured the man probably already  _ knew  _ Baekhyun had a crush on him. “.. I never knew that she was dating someone else until like.. months later and when I asked she just.. lost it. Said that since I was  _ Bi  _ that I was probably.. going to bars to get guys.. she took away my phone and deleted contacts.. said that if u was a man I should be able to stop her.. I-I just.. I didn’t want to hurt-hurt anyone, you know? An-and she keeps s-saying nobody will be-believe me, because I-I’m a man and  _ who would they believe?  _ Me? Or h-her? And-few nights ago she..” He paused just to suck in a sobbing breath, “.. I said I didn’t want her to cheat on me anymore and I.. I told her I didn’t.. I don't think I loved her in a long time.. she.. threw some books at me- kicked me out and said  _ her new boyfriend was moving in anyways.  _ W-I jus- I didn’t m-mean to make her mad..” 

Baekhyun had a number of things to digest.

How could someone who is supposed to love Chanyeol go and treat him like this? 

He knew Chanyeol was leaving out  _ a lot  _ more than  _ a lot  _ because the things he heard weren’t just insults or drunken slurs but they had a  _ hiss  _ they were said to hurt, to stab, and Baekhyun didn’t even  _ know  _ the girl but knew that even some of the words hurt him as a third party listener.

Next, it made more sense Chanyeol didn’t have his own financial things because he never really bought things when they went out. 

Usually Baekhyun force fed him things he got because he was small and never finished anyways and they shared or he’d just buy him his own and accept his sad smile because Chanyeol always told him no thank you but ate anything he got him anyways.

Finally, Chanyeol had  _ no  _ other friends. He had nobody and she just wanted him to go? Where? Where was he to go but with Baekhyun?

It wasn’t very smart - to let a stranger move in after only three and a half months of knowing him - but this was  _ Chanyeol. _

The man that was over six feet but always leaned down very sweetly when Baekhyun had something to say, that was able to hold doors open for the smaller with an arm over his head and who always made Baekhyun feel tall simply because Chanyeol always seemed so small.

He was kind, he brought over plant seeds because he knew Baekhyun was busy gardening and time lapsing their growth.

He always asked a million times if it was okay he touched certain things even as small as movies or getting a glass of water.

He trusted Baekhyun enough with this huge secret, and now he was  _ crying. _

And Baekhyun didn’t like to see anyone cry let alone Chanyeol, so he was quick to rush over and embrace him in a hug, scratching the man's scalp and holding his head to his chest. “Sh. Chanyeol, it’s fine. It’s okay, you can move in here. You can stay here, it’s fine. We can be roommates.” 

He didn’t exactly have the space as it was a single room apartment, but they could work it out. 

It would be fine. 


	36. New Start (Helping Hand)

The first and most important thing they had to do was get Chanyeol's things, and while Baekhyun was more than willing to just storm in with a mean scowl and all kinds of words, he knew it wasn’t very good to fight violence with violence.

Not in front of a  _ victim  _ of said violence at least.

Baekhyun wouldn’t meddle with the bitch so long as she’d leave Chanyeol alone after this and she literally had zero clue where he lived - let alone who he was according to Chanyeol because the man said he didn’t want her to scare him away.

Impossible, but a sweet thought.

Baekhyun would hit a girl if she hit him first, probably because he wasn’t really a fighter and knew it wouldn’t be strong, but he was also just extremely peeved because he knew she hit Chanyeol and used her gender as an  _ excuse. _

And the sad part was that she was  _ right  _ and they  _ would  _ have blamed Chanyeol.

The good thing was that Chanyeol had his key still so they just slipped in when she wasn’t there.

“There’s not much I need.” Chanyeol whispered, sounding embarrassed at the mess.

Because the place  _ was  _ a mess.

It was the exact same layout as Baekhyun’s apartment only it looked aged  _ years,  _ not the nearly brand new one that he had that only had a few chips in the paint.

But it was  _ disgusting.  _

There were piles of garbage all over the floor, clothes, girls underwear just strewn about.

Plenty of alcohol bottles and cans as Chanyeol said, but that still didn’t excuse her behavior even if she  _ was _ an alcoholic.

“I’m.. actually, I can do it myself..” Chanyeol added as Baekhyun looked around the living room, hand on the bedroom door, “I.. it’s cool if you want to leave.” 

“No? No, I’m good,” Baekhyun murmured, walking over and replacing his scowl with a pretty smile, “Let’s get your things, honey.” 

Chanyeol always turned colors when Baekhyun said nicknames, and it was super cute as he blushed and pushed the door open.

The bedroom wasn’t nearly as bad as the rest of the house, because it surprisingly looked like it was straightened up before it was trashed. 

As if reading his thoughts, Chanyeol was grabbing the pack of trash bags from Baekhyun’s fingers and walking away nervously, “She uh.. few times… locked me in, I just lock myself in sometimes when I don’t.. want to fight.” 

It  _ hardly  _ sounded like a fight when it was one sided.

“Why would she do that?” Baekhyun hissed, walking over to kneel on the ground and help Chanyeol shove clothes from the dresser into a bag. 

Chanyeol paused for a second, looking at Baekhyun’s profile, “Because she wanted to have sex with her boyfriend.” 

Baekhyun couldn’t help the way his stomach curled in anger, stopping to rub his chest, “Bitch.” He spat under his breath.

“It’s.. it's cool, I usually just.. did work.. or like I don’t know. It’s fine really, I get it. He’s a really good looking guy, sh-“

“Stop.” The smaller requested, because he wasn’t about to listen to Chanyeol put himself down like this.

There was nothing he could really say that would instantly change the others mind though, nothing at all, because it was going to take time to undo the mess she’d created and it was going to  _ take time  _ to help build the youngers self esteem.

Baekhyun started small and leaned over to peck his cheek at the speed of light, “I think you’re very handsome.” 

He watched Chanyeol's reaction just to make sure it was  _ disgusted  _ or anything of that realm.

But the magenta of his neck and the way Chanyeol was quick to go wide eyed and freeze was tell all enough.

They didn’t speak for a good while after that, Baekhyun mostly just went to work packing anything that looked like men’s clothes or something he knew had to be Chanyeol's like the collection of pop figures on a shelf.

One of them was missing an arm and Baekhyun was going to try to remember to find a new one because they were  _ collectors editions,  _ and Chanyeol didn’t need to be reminded of his time here just from a fucking toy.

It was sad really, how much was messed up or ruined.

But he hadn’t really expected much at all from a bitch that cheated on her boyfriend and  _ told  _ him the sick details, that flaunted it and hit him, made him feel like he deserved to be called disgusting and stupid.

“Fuck, you’ve got to be fuck-“ Chanyeol sighed loudly and Baekhyun was popping up from his spot on the floor to rush into the bathroom.

The younger was leaning over the tub and in his hands an old laptop. 

“What happened?” Baekhyun whispered, and this had to be the closest to mad he’d ever seen Chanyeol as the other continuously tried to hit buttons on the laptop. 

“She- god, I must be  _ stupid, right?  _ This is the third laptop she’s broken- fuck. All my work! My bank shit.. All my…” 

“Sh, hey, you’re not stupid..” He stepped into the bathroom cautiously, “Chanyeol, you’re not stupid, you thought it wouldn’t happen again. It  _ doesn’t  _ make it your fault or you stupid-“

Chanyeol looked at him with wide, glossy eyes, “I didn’t  _ even  _ love her, why- why would I just.. I thought she needed help. I -“

“No, sweetheart.” Baekhyun sighed and ran over to hug Chanyeol's arm at the first tears, “No, no. It’s okay. You’re a good person, it’s okay, you’re going to be fine. You can use my PC, we’re going to cancel all your cards and get you new ones, we’re going to take care of it. This is a  _ temporary  _ problem, but we’re going to find  _ permanent _ solutions, Chanyeol. So don’t cry, sweetheart.” 

“At.. at least..” Chanyeol sniffled into his shirt, “Least I know she’ll get evicted without me, don’t have to see her again.”

Baekhyun couldn’t help laughing as he leaned back to comb his hair, “That’s the spirit, Chan. Now let’s hurry up and get out of here - Oo, let’s use toothpaste and write  _ fuck you _ on the couch, it will bleach it!” 


	37. Yapping (Helping Hand)

Other than occasional yelling, they really didn’t hear much from June, and from what Baekhyun did hear it was her worrying about money, mentioning Chanyeol, her and her new boyfriend arguing. 

They never really _saw_ her though.

He knew she was bombarding the shit out of Chanyeol though.

Mostly because the man used his charge and it was on the side table in his room even though Baekhyun _said_ it was completely fine for him to take it out and by the couch where Chanyeol slept.

But Chanyeol said he never used his phone anyways, and that was _really_ true because he didn’t usually respond to texts and instead would just come see Baekhyun before.

But that also could have just been so she wouldn’t know.

Either way, Baekhyun peeked sometimes just because it would be vibrating right by his head and he’d scan a few while he tried to turn it off.

They were vicious, accusational, threatening.

It was good Chanyeol rarely used it, and Baekhyun just wanted to block her number all together but that was Chanyeol's choice and the man didn’t really touch it so there was no point in suggesting it.

“Baek. I got a job today!” 

Baekhyun giggled at the excited tone, back to the living room as he poured coffee, “That’s nice, sweetheart. I was just wondering if you’d want to be in one of my videos.” 

“Me?” He heard the other squeak, uncharacteristically high pitched.

It made the smaller smile as he came around to the living room and plopped right into Chanyeol's “bed,” reaching over to give the other his coffee. “Of course. My viewers keep wondering when I’d do another vlog, who I’m with, what I’m doing, you know, just some questions. Of course you don’t have to, I’ll just..cook or something.” 

“I.. i..” He looked at Chanyeol at the fumbling tone because usually the nervous look that matched was too cute to pass up, “.. I’m a good cook.” 

“You _are_ a good cook,” Baekhyun praised with a pretty smile, “I’ll wait until you feel ready, handsome.” He cooed.

Chanyeol flushed and leaned over to put his coffee down, bed head sticking up every which way, “I’ll.. let me shower and change!” He cried, jumping up and stumbling out of his blankets.

Baekhyun giggled, “Adorable.” 

The younger made an embarrassed noise and scattered like a newborn deer down the hall. 

******

“I’m back.” Baekhyun laughed and jumped in front of his tripod that was set up on the counter, “I’m here to do it to ‘em! I’m making soup, because it’s raining! And I’m _not_ going to set the fire alarm off!” 

He heard Chanyeol snort at that and pouted before straightening out and grabbing the other's arm to pull him into frame, “Because this is my friend Chanyeol! And he’s like a professional-”

“Am not.” 

“- and also he's my new puppy too! So, surprise! This is the puppy I have chosen, isn't he so cute!” Baekhyun cried, pinching Chanyeol's cheek until the other looked well past red.

Smiling, Chanyeol laughed and pushed him off gently, looking away from the camera and Baekhyun knew he was probably a bit camera shy.

That was fine because Baekhyun wasn’t and was more than happy to just pretend they weren’t on camera at all.

“Chanyeol! Master chef! What’s first!”

“Um.. here.. you..” The taller was half mumbling and half hiding in the fridge at this point, “.. cut these.” He ordered, passing over some cilantro, “Please don’t cut your fingers off.” 

“Aw, that’s the funnest part,” Baekhyun pouted, bringing his items in front of the camera while Chanyeol was actually doing work behind him, “You’d take me to the hospital, right, Chan? You’d take me?” 

He wasn’t sure the other heard but when he looked up at the monitor screen and saw Chanyeol was just staring at him shyly. 

He grinned, “I’d take you, Chanyeol! If you burn yourself we’re going straight to the emergency room and you’ll have to deal with me _yapping_ the entire time!” 

Chanyeol laughed loudly and Baekhyun couldn’t help looking over his shoulder to watch in person because it was such a nice sound. 

“Isn’t that _all_ you do? Yapping at everything, you’re the puppy.” 

Baekhyun gawked, both because Chanyeol never teased him and because he very much did not _yap_ at everything - only when he was worked up, okay?

“Why you-“ He whined over Chanyeol's laughing, turning to grab onto the other stop and pout as he bounced on his feet, “Take it back! Take it back, Yeol! Tell me I’m the best and the most _non_ annoying ever and then I’ll accept your apology!” 

“You _are_ annoying though, are you promoting lying?”

“Yah!” Baekhyun cried, tickling Chanyeol's side and also wrapping around him like a snake even though the younger was laughing so hard he was probably going to be the first to go down with weak knees, “You love me! You love me! You love me! Tell me! Who’s annoying now? Huh? I’ll keep you up all night _yapping_ unless you admit it!” 

Chanyeol wiggled in an attempt to get away, but Baekhyun was a leech and practically climbed onto his back, “Admit it! Admit that I’m your best friend ever and you love me and think I’m completely _not_ annoying!”

“Fine!” The taller laughed, voice cracking as he managed to grab Baekhyun’s fingers, “I will!”

With a breathy laugh, Baekhyun beamed, waiting, “So,” He prompted with a wave of his hand, “Praise me!” 

“For someone so small your head is really big,” 

Baekhyun went to tickle again with a warning look and Chanyeol put his hands up in mock surrender, “Okay! Okay, you’re my best friend, not annoying!”

_“And?”_

“And I love you.”

Baekhyun smiled triumphantly and patted his chest in a _good boy_ sort of motion because he was too lazy to reach to the top of the skyscraper and pat his hair.

“ _And,_ I think you’re really pretty.” 

His face went bright pink at the camera, he’d never heard Chanyeol say something like that before, let alone the _tone._

It was Baekhyuns turn to be embarrassed it seemed because Chanyeol grinned in the reflection of the camera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopeful endings.... how do you think their relationship progressed later on? ~~~~


	38. Noye (Dystopia)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baekhyun never realized his privilege until he was forced to see through others eyes by a man thrown on his doorstep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Noye (노예) means slave in Korean.
> 
> TW: implied abuse, rape, torture. 
> 
> This is a story about slavery in a different universe, there are sensitive topic but no graphics of said topics!

  
Baekhyun lived in the woods.

People thought he was pretty strange for never leaving the area after his mother passed away, for never selling the home, but he couldn’t possibly do that.

Even if he was seen as weird it never stopped suitors from coming after him nor from showing interest.

They told him it was dangerous, that such a pretty boy should stay careful of running into thieves being all alone on the outskirts of town.

Thus far he’d had no problems, but also he didn’t really leave the large home unless he had to allow the maid here to water his mother's garden.

But now that it was only him and he didn’t really create messes those days were slowly becoming less and less, but he mostly just didn’t fire the maid because he knew she needed the work.

A plus of being upper class he supposed, but he wasn’t one to take advantage of lower classes.

Perhaps he was just stupid, he mused, because everyone else seemed to have zero care for much else than their class.

Baekhyun couldn't be bothered to discriminate over such trivial things.

Instead, he busied walking out to his mother's garden a short walk behind his home, walking along a trail towards the fenced garden.

His mother's pride and joy was this garden, likely because his father had loved them before he had been killed in the war.

It was still an ongoing, sensitive topic, so Baekhyun didn't like to dwell on it as his mother had daily.

Towards the end of her days she’d become obsessed about the government and their abuse, she’d had insane theories of citizen control and the military’s role in carrying out cruel deeds under disguise.

Baekhyun found some truth in her claims, and that only made him want to avoid the thoughts more. 

He approached the garden with a lantern in his hand to view the garden, today had been a busy day and he’d not had time to do so until now, nearing sunset.

Hopefully he would have just enough sunlight to get things done.

But that thought was flying out of the window when he looked around the edge of the forest because he could hear the sound of stumbling, like that of an animal.

There _were_ bears and dangerous animals within this area, but if Baekhyun left them alone they tended to leave him be too.

But this didn’t _sound_ like an animal.

It was too quiet, yet loud at the same time, the sound of panting was too loud to be that of an animal or predator.

“Hel-“

Baekhyun froze and the lantern in his hand went falling to the ground making him jump twice as hard when it shattered, staring in both fear and confusion.

A man was running out from the treeline, which in itself was a sight of confusion, but Baekhyun was even more afraid because when he locked eyes with the other he seemed just as, if not more, than him. 

He was heaving as he stared at him. 

The man was all dirty, filthy really. 

He had cuts all over the skin that was visible and the tan, torn top and pants he wore were well past their need to be thrown out. 

The black waves on his head were matted down and he had wide, expressive eyes even though he and Baekhyun were still a good few yards apart.

Baekhyun shifted, foot stepping into the glass and the man flinched, wide eyes shooting at him and even though he was large he looked much more afraid of Baekhyun than was needed.

Baekhyun wasn’t used to such looks other than confusion or lust being thrown his way.

Not fear, definitely not fear.

“A-Are… you..” Baekhyun didn’t want to finish because he already knew the answer, but through the trees there was the shining of flashlights, likely still a ways away because he couldn’t hear them yet.

The man looked over his shoulder too and started looking around for a way out.

There was no way Baekhyun could just allow him to continue running, not when he’d heard horror stories and when the man looked all kinds of terrified. 

“Noye..” He addressed quietly, “Come. Come with me.” 

The man really had no choice, he was a slave, and Baekhyun was giving him a free out.

Instead of thinking, he ran after Baekhyun, bare feet hitting the cobblestone steps as he ran after him.

God, Baekhyun had no idea what he was doing. He most definitely was not intentionally going against the law, but this was _cruel._

“Come, come!” He hissed as he could make out voices from the forest, tugging on the man's arm to pull him through the backdoor before swiftly shutting and locking it, moving to pull curtains down.

It was much too late. 

They likely wouldn’t come knocking upon his door past sunset, it would be inappropriate.

Baekhyun hurried to shut all the blinds anyways because who knew if they could see inside, but he could pretend to be asleep should they actually attempt to knock.

He made sure everything was locked down before pressing a finger to his lips as he looked at the other before nodding towards the stairs. 

The Noye gave a swift, shaking nod and started creeping behind him up the stairs.

“Come this way,” Baekhyun whispered, pushing his bedroom door open, “They won’t come in.” 

The other didn’t look like he bought that for a second, but really didn’t have much choice but to believe him, standing uncomfortably on a rug as he watched Baekhyun gather clothing. “Will… will you turn me in?” 

Baekhyun was a bit taken aback by the deep tone, “What? No. No, of course not, my name is Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun, I’m getting you new clothes, you can throw yours into the trash can in the bathroom.” He explained, pointing behind him towards the bathroom.

“I.. I- thank you.” 

He didn’t sound like he believed Baekhyun for a second, but based on his state, Baekhyun wouldn’t believe himself either. 

“Will you give me a name?” 

“Noye,” The other side instantly, bowing his head and not looking at him as Baekhyun placed clothes in his hand.

Baekhyun frowned, “No. An actual name.” 

“You want my real name?” 

The shock was obvious in his tone. “Of course,” Baekhyun mumbled, “I won’t just call you Noye forever,” 

“Chanyeol… that’s it. Just Chanyeol.” 

Baekhyun smiled, eyes lingering on the small cuts across Chanyeol's hands, “Okay. I’ll make you some food while you clean up.” 

The look Chanyeol gave him was nothing short of confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: these are not full stories, but basically small ideas of stories, rushing is inevitable
> 
> Also, fml bc I’m back in a drought of ideas when I JUST finished the mermaid one 😭


	39. Safe Here (Dystopia)

“Morning,” Baekhyun whispered softly, placing a bowl of oatmeal in front of Chanyeol who was laying on the couch, “I hope you slept well.” 

He found out rather quickly that Chanyeol was not a talker, but more of an  _ analyzer. _

He just stared at him a lot all last night, even when Baekhyun tried to speak to him he was mostly all short head nods and watchful eyes.

Chanyeol was sitting up quickly at the sight of food though, looking nervously between Baekhyun and the bowl like he wasn’t sure he could have it.

“If I had fruit I would have added it, but I haven’t gone to the village in a while,” Baekhyun said with a soft smile, “Please eat,” He added, motioning to the bowl.

That’s all it took for the man to start gorging himself so fast Baekhyun was afraid the man would start choking.

“I… I um.. I’m twenty six,” Baekhyun began and at his voice the slave was looking at him instantly all the while eating animalistically, “I live here alone, my mom passed away recently… um-“

“Isn’t that too old to be alone?”

He knew Chanyeol was referring to marriage, sounding suspicious and unbelieving, “Yeah. Yeah, it is. I hear so everytime I go to the village,” Baekhyun attempted to joke. 

Chanyeol didn’t smile though, so it was more awkward than anything, he just stared distrustingly.

“You’re high class, where’s your Noye?” 

Baekhyun startled a bit at the aggression in Chanyeol's voice, frowning and fiddling with his fingers, “I don’t.. believe in that, in slavery, my father.. he.. he was on the side of Noye’s during the war, but he.. passed away about five years ago.” 

Chanyeol didn’t respond, but that was fine because Baekhyun wasn’t expecting him to, he kind of just stared like he was calculating or looking for lies.

But there were none to find, because Baekhyun was telling the truth.

The war started eleven years before, when Baekhyun was fifteen.

Noye’s were those of classes lower than peasants even; usually, they were those born from slaves or those from families of those outcast or disowned.

They rose up years ago to try and rebel, but it just ended in catastrophe as the conditions for slaves obviously have gotten worse, just looking at Chanyeol the rumors had to be true.

He was malnourished, beaten, paranoid, Baekhyun didn’t know what to say or  _ not  _ say to the other to calm him down.

“Where are you from?” Baekhyun whispered, rubbing his palms over his knees. 

Chanyeol just turned back to his bowl and acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

Baekhyun prodded the inside of his cheek because he wouldn’t have ever expected a Noye to be so  _ rude,  _ but maybe this was the only way the other knew how to act out.

He was so curious, he’d never spoken to a Noye before because when in public he’d have gotten too many looks for it, too many disgusted glances and suspicious looks.

He was already seen as the  _ weird boy _ ; he really didn’t want to be distrustful also.

Plus, there had been rumors of “Noye lovers” being kidnapped and killed, far left movements of hatred towards the release of slaves. 

Baekhyun wasn’t trying to get himself killed.

“Do yo-“ He was cut off by the sound of knocking and like lightning Chanyeol was snapping his neck to look at him, wide eyed and begging.

There was no  _ need  _ to beg.

Baekhyun wasn’t going to rat him out.

“Just a second!” Baekhyun yelled, getting out of his chair and pointing down to the floor,  _ stay down,  _ he mouthed,  _ hide. _

Chanyeol nodded frantically and was laying down on the ground, the couch blocking him from view and Baekhyun was slightly impressed that such a large man could become so small.

Baekhyun triple checked Chanyeol's position before making a dash towards the door. “Hello, sorry about that! I was making breakfast.” He lied.

There were two soldiers here, both peeking around him instead of looking at him directly.

“Hello, we’re looking for a runaway. Noye 07, over six foot, came through the woods at about nine last night, you couldn’t have missed him.” 

Baekhyun frowned a small bit, “I’m sorry, but that’s about time I bathe, I must have missed the Noye. Apologies, but if he came this way he probably headed towards the west, behind me is an old creek you see, so it could provide water and probably food…” 

The elder looking of the two men started writing down in his notebook while the younger looked at Baekhyun suspiciously.

That was fine, he didn’t give a fuck if they were suspicious, they had no authority over him.

Not as they did Chanyeol.

“You should steer clear of the south for a bit,” The younger said, “A bunch of Noye’s struck and killed their overseers and made a run, not all have been found yet. Who knows what they’d do to a defenseless young man.” 

Baekhyun’s brows pulled together because he hadn’t even known there was a slavery ring to the south, but he just gave a stiff nod, “Thank you, i'll remember that, now I’m afraid my breakfast is burning.” 

“Thank you for your information,” The elder man stated, Baekhyun shut the door with a roll of his eyes because they were  _ idiots  _ and he’d sent them away from town, and if  _ he  _ were running away, surely he’d go towards a town to steal supplies.

“That’s not true.” 

He jumped at the deep voice and sighed as Chanyeol sat up on the ground, “That’s not true, a young boy was almost raped and we tried to help, one of the officers slipped and hit his head, we all ran. Now my friends are all out there, it was an accident.” 

Baekhyun’s entire face shifted, sliding down to sit by the door, “What?”

“My friends,” Chanyeol repeated, “We all split up. My little brother is out there.. he’s only ten…” 

Baekhyun didn’t want to make promises, so he decided not to comment on that, because it was unfair to give false hope. 

“You’re safe here,” Was all he said, standing up to leave the room because he had  _ a lot  _ to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: being angry classes are starting so I forget to update 🤡


	40. Closer (Dystopia)

“Hey. I need to go check the garden,” Baekhyun mumbled, fixing his sleeves as he walked down the stairs and knocked on the bathroom door.

Chanyeol had been here a little over a week, and truthfully they didn’t speak much, if at all, Baekhyun couldn't blame him for being weary, although he  _ had  _ been hiding him so that should say a lot about his character.

“Huh?” 

Baekhyun gasped and took a step back when the door suddenly was pulled open, swallowing harshly at the nearly naked man.

“What was that?” Chanyeol asked, wiping the towel through his hair.

Baekhyun was  _ trying  _ to focus, and it wasn’t as if he’d never seen a man in merely underwear before, but not like  _ this. _

Not with scars of various colors across their skin, not with scratches bright red and irritated, some looked infected even, and Chanyeol still stood here as if he didn’t feel the throbbing at all.

“I… never mind, what.. Chanyeol, why didn’t you say anything?” Baekhyun asked, grabbing his forearm gently and pushing him back into the bathroom, “These look  _ horrible.”  _

“What are you talking about?” The other wondered, taking a seat on the edge of the tub.

Baekhyun sighed and clenched his jaw as he grabbed a first aid kit from below the counter, “Those are not supposed to be  _ green,  _ Chanyeol. They’re infected.” 

“Oh..” He heard the other mumbled, “Maybe that’s why they itch so much.” 

The smaller of the two both wanted to scold and yell at him, but at the same time he kind of just wanted to cry.

Baekhyun moved to take a seat on the tile when Chanyeol grabbed his clothes, wide eyed, “What are you doing?” He hissed, tone worried.

“Cleaning them,” Baekhyun answered, pulling his arm out of the other's grip, “Sit back a little.” He urged, pushing at his chest gently.

Chanyeol did as asked, but stared at him wearily. “You shouldn’t take care of me, I can do it.” 

“Why is that?” 

“Because I’m a  _ slave _ , I’m dirty and my blood is impure-“

“Shut up!” Baekhyun growled, sitting down on the tile fully, “Shut  _ up,  _ Chanyeol, I’m tired of hearing about how you’re a  _ Noye!  _ I know, hell, I could be killed for this, okay? Of course I know, but that doesn’t  _ mean  _ shit! You’re a  _ person,  _ and just because your blood is of a Noye’s doesn’t-“

“My mother wasn’t a Noye,” Chanyeol rushed out quickly, like he wasn’t exactly sure how to handle Baekhyun being upset, “My father was, they tracked me down when I was.. like fifteen.. took my brother too, and he isn’t Noye blood, Luhan was a baby. They just.. didn’t believe us..” 

Baekhyun took a deep breath, resting his forehead in his palm for a moment to think.

That sounded  _ horrible,  _ Chanyeol probably had a normal life before he was taken, he was unaware of who he was - what he was  _ considered to be. _

“We.. I mean.. I try to keep Luhan close.. he.. he wasn’t very.. they didn’t think he was very smart, like, not even other Noye’s liked him. He was just.. a little.. he doesn’t talk very well, they took advantage of him. I was.. was fed up, I couldn’t take it anymore.” 

“I thought you said you guys didn’t mean to,” Baekhyun whispered, sitting back up on his knees to clean a gash in Chanyeol's ribs, “That it was an accident.” 

Chanyeol looked a bit sheepish, licking his lips nervously, “Thought you’d misunderstand.” 

“Does it look like I do?” He whispered, “I’m just trying to help you.” 

The Noye simply looked at him, thinking, “I know. Thank you.” 

Baekhyun smiled softly, dabbing over the wound and placing his other hand on Chanyeol's knee for balance as he had to stretch a bit to reach the wound. 

He didn’t notice the man looking less suspicious of him than before.

“I’m not going to take advantage of you, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun whispered, thin fingers laying a bandage around the others waist. 

“I know,” The other repeated.

“Good.” Baekhyun sent a small smile to him as he stood up to dig through the medicine cabinet.

“Baekhyun?”

“‘Mhm?”

“I’m very grateful, even if I don’t seem like it,” Chanyeol mumbled, eyeing the smallers back, “I know you have plenty of other things to do, and getting arrested is not on the list, but I do appreciate it. I’d be long dead if it wasn’t for you.” 

“That bad?” Baekhyun asked reluctantly.

Chanyeol grimaced, accepting the pills Baekhyun was offering without question, “They fed us bread and milk occasionally, but mostly bread. It.. it’s not enough when we worked sunrise to sunset in the heat, even more in the winter. Those that went to homes after being sold weren’t allowed any outside contact with us. Soldiers.. guards.. they took advantage. They.. attacked, raped, they did whatever they liked and made us watch as punishment. It- I..” 

“I’m going to hug you, is that.. okay?” Baekhyun whispered, eyes watering. 

The Noye gave a very tense nod, and felt even more tense when Baekhyun hugged him, spine stiff, but within a second he loosened up and Baekhyun felt tears on his skin.

It wasn’t his business to know what Chanyeol had gone through, it wasn’t his business to pry.

But it  _ was  _ his business to make sure the other wouldn’t be taken back.

Perhaps Baekhyun was a naive and hopeful person, but he liked to not be alone anymore, even if he knew the best company wasn’t an illegal runaway Noye.


	41. Found (Dystopia)

“Are you sure?” 

Baekhyun giggled and tugged Chanyeol's fingers, “Of course!” He chirped, “If anyone asks, you’re my husband, nobody will question it.” 

Chanyeol’s face turned light pink, “Inappropriate,” He muttered.” 

The smaller merely laughed at him and continued pulling him down the hill towards the village.

It had been a good month or more, so Baekhyun figured it was time Chanyeol went out, plus he needed to get the man some more fitting clothes because his were no longer cutting it anymore as the man had grown exponentially in the past month and few weeks.

Baekhyun was no  _ fool _ also, Chanyeol was a handsome man - not  _ slave,  _ because they didn’t try to limit him to being called as such, he was handsome for any man, not for any slave.

For limiting comparing him to a slave felt like more of an insult when Baekhyun had the highest class of men after him and none had been nearly as easy on the eyes.

Chanyeol was nearly unrecognizable from how Baekhyun had met him. 

“I am very wanted, don’t you know!” Baekhyun teased, squeezing the others hand tighter when he saw how nervous Chanyeol looked as they entered the crowded village, “Many suitors, my love!” 

That made the other turn even redder, grumbling, “You’re embarrassing.” 

“You’re bright red.” Baekhyun laughed. 

Chanyeol had no response other than pushing him a bit but otherwise tried to make himself small behind Baekhyun’s back, trailing the other with a tight hand in his.

It nearly made Baekhyun regret convincing the other it was safe to come out, but it was dark out anyways, and Chanyeol was hard to recognize with a hood over his head anyways. 

He knew the other was beginning to like it when he’d bought him a treat and given it to the other to stop his nerves a small bit, because Chanyeol was a sucker for food and never once complained about any given to him.

“Baekhyun!” 

Baekhyun cringed at the General walking towards him, “Chan, keep looking down or away,” He worried, squeezing the man's arm. 

“Baekhyun,” The General grinned, a man double his age and stature, “I’ve sent many bouquets to your home the last few weeks, have you not received my letters? Your fathe-“

“They must have gotten lost,” Baekhyun lied, “I’m sorry General, but I’ve gotten married already, my husband wouldn’t appreciate speaking to other men.” 

The elder man's face contorted into anger and disbelief as Baekhyun tucked into Chanyeol's side, the Noye looked worriedly down at the smaller through his hair, pretending to be counting gold through his fingers.

Baekhyun was glad now he’d had to have Chanyeol hold onto them because he had no pockets - although part of him just wanted the other to hold them to  _ know  _ he wasn’t worried of the Noye committing crimes despite it being “common.” 

He didn’t really know if Chanyeol knew of Noye stereotypes at all.

“I see….” The man hissed, looking as if he was trying to look under Chanyeol's hood, but Baekhyun moved to lean back against the others chest and how fast Chanyeol was to lay a hand on his stomach and pull himself closer sent flutters through his veins.

“He’s a merchant,” Baekhyun bragged with a bright grin, “What are you still doing in the area anyway?” 

The General's expression changed to one of pride, “Oh! We’ve brought some Noye’s down for sale, I’m sure I could cut you a bargain. A little beauty like you shouldn’t be doing housework.” 

Chanyeol’s hand tightened in a fist over his top and Baekhyun smiled tensely as he laid a hand over the others across his front, “I’ll take a peek. Let me just discuss with my husband for a bit.” He requested.

He heard a light scoff and rolled his eyes as he turned around, listening to retreating footsteps as he cupped Chanyeol's face beneath his hood, “You’re okay, sweetheart.” 

The man looked all kinds of confused, but one expression peeked out most as Baekhyun felt his jaw clench under his palms, “You are to marry him?” 

Baekhyun nearly laughed, but Chanyeol looked all kinds of jealous so he was concerned, “What? No. He was one of my fathers commanders before he left to help Noye’s, I’d  _ never  _ marry someone so cruel. He simply believes he can guilt me into it. Don’t  _ worry, _ ” He soothed, combing hair from Chanyeol's cheek, “As far as anyone knows I’m now married, don’t worry.” 

“You could marry for real, grander. Have rich gifts offered, I can’t give you anything,” Chanyeol argued.

Baekhyun was more than confused because Chanyeol sounded much more involved for something that was  _ pretending  _ to be his husband in public, for someone that rarely spoke much to him other than small smiles and confessions. 

He didn’t really have much time to speak about it now, but perhaps the man found him… desirable as Baekhyun did him. 

Because he couldn’t stop himself from finding Chanyeol admirable, strong, handsome; even if the man claimed to be nothing more than a slave. 

He stood up on his toes to press a soft kiss to his cheek and felt Chanyeol stiffen like a pole, “We can talk later, handsome; let us see if he has your friends.” Baekhyun muttered.

Chanyeol’s mouth opened and closed a handful of times, eyes shaking, and Baekhyun giggled, face still close as he asked, “Never been kissed before, husband?” He teased. 

_ “No. I haven’t,”  _

Baekhyun found that hard to believe, but Chanyeol didn’t look to be kidding, now he just looked embarrassed. 

“Come, my love,” Baekhyun cooed, “Let’s take a peek quickly,” 

Baekhyun was in deep  _ shit,  _ because even he didn’t know how much was show or the truth now.

They walked along the gravel towards the end of the night market, government operated events tended to be at the very end because they were expensive, not many people had money and the military took up large areas for slave trade and enlistment stands.

The first thing he noticed was a lot of soldiers, drunk and laughing, felt Chanyeol's hand become clammy.

He thought the reaction was because of the soldiers and guards until a warm breath was running over his neck.  _ “Luhan..”  _

Baekhyun’s eyes followed Chanyeol's instantly over to a tent.

Outside the tent were two cages, both holding young boys, one obviously smaller than the other, and the larger of the two was yanking on his cage as if it was doing anything at all, while the smaller boy was just lying in the dirt, topless with his ribs exposed to the elements.

“Your brother?” He gasped.

“Sehun. The one thrashing,” Chanyeol's grip became exceedingly tight, “Was the one nearly raped. He’s sold as a prostitute to older woman. Aged sixteen.” 

“You stay here,” Baekhyun ordered, turning around to dig into Chanyeol's pocket, “You don’t move.” 

“But-“

“Do not move.” Baekhyun ordered, tugging on his coat to make sure Chanyeol was looking at him as he grabbed his chin and then the pouch of gold in his other hand, “Chanyeol. You let me take care of it.” 

“I- it’s danger-“

“For  _ you  _ it’s dangerous,” The smaller whispered softly, thumb running across his cheek, “For me, it’s not. I’m buying them, I don’t want you near, okay? Run back and buy them food, okay? We have a long walk home and they might become sick walking so far without food.” 

Chanyeol looked like he wanted to argue, eyes watering and pained, but he gave a short nod as Baekhyun shoved a few pieces of gold into his hand, “You’ll… be careful?” 

“Of course, sweetheart.” Baekhyun answered, turning to walk towards the cages even though Chanyeol's eyes were on him. 

Instantly he was given a gritted teeth look from the older of the two slaves, hair falling over his eyes as the boy kicked at the metal.

Baekhyun almost finched, but a soldier with an electrical pole was yelling and reaching in and Baekhyun yelled, “No! Hey! I’m buying them! I don’t want them injured! Those are mine!” 

Sehun looked at him both in disgust through the metal and confusion.

He’d seen the same look from Chanyeol before. 

“You? Sir Byun, this one is disobedient, and this one is frail!” One of the guards laughed.

Baekhyun resisted the urge to yell at them for being disgusting, but instead knelt down in front of Luhan’s cage, unsure if the boy was sleeping or not, but the young boy's eyes were open, staring at him. 

“I said I want them!” He demanded, turning to toss his pouch of gold at a soldier's feet, “Both of them, now!” 

The guards laughed and Baekhyun was ready to pull a hierarchical move and rant of their class and him being higher, something he'd never do you anyone else but pure evil people, but he didn’t want to give these two Noye’s bad impressions because it seemed Sehun hated others already.

“You want the escort in chains? He may bite.” 

Baekhyun grimaced, “No. I want him released without harm.” 

“Fine. If you get herpes don’t blame us!”

He didn’t find the joke funny at all, and Sehun looked angrier at it and he knew the other also didn’t appreciate it. 

He was only a child, of course he didn’t appreciate their treatment.

“Come. You’ll come home with me,” Baekhyun whispered, stepping back a small bit just to allow Luhan’s cage to be opened, putting his hand inside.

He could hear a bit of a struggle beside him in Sehun's cage, but knew if he showed too much kindness it would come to kick him in the future.

“Come.” He ordered, hoping his eyes looked soft.

Luhan looked so afraid and Baekhyun hated to pretend to be anything but kind because he considered himself  _ kind,  _ but the little boy slipped his hand into his fearfully, nails overgrown and dirtied beneath, but his entire body was pure dirt and scabs anyways.

_ How could they treat children like this? _

“Ah, careful,” Baekhyun whispered as Luhan stumbled, knees weak and trembling from underuse or  _ overuse,  _ he had no clue.

“You fucking whore!” 

Baekhyun growled and spun around to a guard raising a baton towards Sehun who seemed to be yanked out of his cage, the guards hand was bleeding and he was actually amused as the slave laughed, teeth bloodied,  _ “Have fun with my disease.”  _

The guard turned red faced angry, “You fuck-“

“I believe my husband said none of them were to be harmed!” Came a deep, drawling voice.

Baekhyun  _ felt  _ Luhan whimper and squeezed his palm so the boy couldn’t go and give them away by running at him.

“That’s right!” Baekhyun yelled, “No harm on my merchandise! My husband will grab him, in my name I order you to step away!” 

Chanyeol didn’t seem scared anymore with giving himself away, because he looked straight at the guards.

Baekhyun didn’t know  _ why,  _ maybe it was because they were all drunk, maybe because he didn’t recognize them so they wouldn’t know him, or maybe because he simply  _ wanted  _ to feel powerful for once.

Because he was considered high with Baekhyun’s name, and he was considered supreme right now. 

Baekhyun was proud  _ for  _ him, because Chanyeol must have never felt like this before.

“Come,” Baekhyun mumbled, tugging Luhan’s hand towards the village and away as he saw Chanyeol going to get Sehun.

They knew each other, he could only hope Sehun would put up a bit more of a show for the guards so he too wouldn’t be too obvious.

“I-I.. s-so-sorry-y.” He heard the young boy whisper when his knees refused to listen, leaning heavily into Baekhyun’s hip with a pant in his voice.

It was fine because they were more in the village than before, so Baekhyun pet his hair and wrapped an arm around his naked ribs, “Sh, it’s okay, honey. Chanyeol will be here in a second to carry you, just breathe, Luhan.” 

“Yo-u.. k-kno-w m-my na-me?” 

Baekhyun smiled and knelt down to the ten year olds level, “Of course! You think Chanyeol wouldn’t tell me all about his cute little brother? Of course I know you, sweetheart.” 

Luhan’s mouth opened into a small O and Baekhyun laughed, patting his long hair from his face while holding his waist, “Ch-Cha-n.. s-sa-safe...wi-th... you?”

“Everyone is safe with me,” Baekhyun promised, hand coming back from the boys hair a dark grey with dirt as he stood up when he noticed Chanyeol.

“Lu,” Chanyeol addressed, hand locked around Sehun’s wrist and a bag on his wrist, “Luhan,” He added, whispering in relief as he released Sehun’s arm to pick up his brother.

Baekhyun felt overwhelmed because he’d never seen Chanyeol so relieved before, “Let’s get them back, Chan.” 

When he stepped towards Sehun the other gave him a curled lip expression and Baekhyun frowned because wasn’t it  _ obvious  _ he was helping?

“Y-Yeah, um..” Chanyeol mumbled, “Here.. Sehun, Luhan, eat something, we have a long walk.” 

Sehun wouldn’t accept the bag until Baekhyun was stepping away and it made him sigh.

Back to square one, only Sehun seemed much  _ harder  _ to understand than Chanyeol.

Again, he couldn’t blame him.


	42. Plans (Dystopia)

“I know, sweet pea! I love flowers too, I can take you out to the garden once you get better,” Baekhyun promised as he unlocked the front door.

Luhan made a small happy, tired sound and Baekhyun grinned, smiling wider when he saw how happy Chanyeol looked as he carried his brother inside.

Luhan was a  _ talker,  _ he was only ten so it was to be expected, but Baekhyun saw how happy Chanyeol was when he spoke to Luhan and suspected the boy really was not really able to speak much in the past.

It just reminded him of when Chanyeol said others thought Luhan was  _ stupid. _

Sure, the boy was a little behind and had a bad stutter, but he wasn’t  _ stupid.  _

It obviously would be difficult to be taught properly when raised in  _ cells. _

“You’re too trusting,” He heard Sehun say to Luhan as Chanyeol set the boy onto the couch.

Baekhyun pretended not to hear them and focused on gathering towels and walking to the bathroom to start a bath up. 

_ “What’s that supposed to mean?”  _ Chanyeol asked.

Sehun scoffed, “Listen. I won’t fuck him, I’m not touching that whore so he bought me for no-“

The rest was cut off and Baekhyun had to run into the living room at the sound of a scuffle and found Chanyeol pinning the teenager to the wall, “You  _ don’t  _ speak of him like that! He’s helping us! If not for him you’d still be in that fucking cage! Be grateful!” 

“Chan..” Baekhyun whispered, leaning over the back of the couch to pat Luhan’s head as the boy looked tearfully afraid, “You’re scaring Luhan.” 

Sehun laughed in his face, “I  _ see..”  _ He drawled, eyes flickering over Chanyeol's shoulder to Baekhyun before back at the other, “You love him? Pathetic. You always said  _ fuck  _ high class, right? I didn’t think you meant  _ literally.  _ Traitor.” 

Baekhyun’s shoulders stiffened up as did Chanyeol's, but the man loosened his grip on Sehun, “Shut up,” He whispered, “Sehun, please don’t.” Chanyeol requested. “We will find Jongin, okay? Things take a while. Baekhyun wants to help us.” 

Baekhyun hadn’t ever heard of the other Noye’s names other than Luhan and once he’d heard someone named  _ Kyungsoo,  _ but other than that, he was mostly in the dark.

That didn’t mean he didn’t want to help.

Truthfully, at this point he was kind of sucked in. While saving Chanyeol was technically the only illegal thing he’d done yet, planning to find other runaways had to be illegal too.

He had one life though, was he willing to give it to these people? Was he willing to do this? Potentially risk being killed for strangers?

“B-B-Baek.. c-can.. ha-ave b-bath?” Luhan whispered, fingers tugging on Baekhyun’s wrist.

Yes. He was.

“Of course, come on, Lu. Let’s go.” Baekhyun cooed, “Lets let them talk, hm? We can talk about our garden.” 

“O-o-ours?”

Baekhyun laughed and opened the bathroom door for him, “Definitely! I need so much help, we can make a great team!” 

Luhan had a very pretty smile; Baekhyun decided cleaned up he would be even prettier, and a few pounds would definitely do him good, hopefully he would look his age after a few months, because right now he looked no older than seven at most.

Chanyeol released Sehun after the bathroom door shut with a whispered apology, walking towards the kitchen even though the teenager was on his tail and watching him.

“I’m sorry.” 

Chanyeol sighed and poured a glass of milk to give to the younger, “It’s okay. You have every right to be suspicious. We showed up out of nowhere.” 

“And you’re all.. big and healed,” Sehun mumbled, “Healthy, I’m jealous.” 

“Baekhyun will make sure you guys are healthy too, he’d a  _ good  _ person.” 

Sehun snorted into his glass and Chanyeol wasn’t sure how to take it until the teenager was putting his empty glass out for more and moving to start digging through cabinets.

Again, Chanyeol couldn’t blame him because he just about ate everything he could find when Baekhyun allowed him to sleep down here instead of in a spare room.

He would completely admit to Baekhyun  _ now  _ that he had been planning to steal things and run but had fallen asleep instead, but he was glad life had stopped him from leaving now.

“Never thought I’d hear you say things like that.. that’s all.” Sehun said, armful of snacks that he tossed onto the dining table.

“Yeah, well… never thought I would  _ have  _ to say that before,” Chanyeol answered with a shrug, passing over the entire glass bottle of milk because trying to ration was  _ pointless  _ when you had two starving people here.

“You really think he can help us find them? Can keep us safe?”

“I don’t  _ know,”  _ He admitted, “But I know he’s going to  _ try.  _ And what… what else can we really ask for, Sehun? That’s the most people like us can really ask for. It’s better than cold cells, right? It’s more than bread and occasional milk. It’s a warm bed and fresh meat whenever we  _ want.  _ He’s risking his life for us, I think a bit of gratefulness goes a long way.” 

“You really love him, huh?” 

Chanyeol swallowed thickly, “I really don’t know what love  _ is,  _ Sehun.” 

“This is as close as it gets.” The younger answered.

******

“Are you okay with this? I can just have Luhan and you in one, Sehun in one.. we have rooms, Chanyeol..” Baekhyun worried, fingers messing with the buttons of his flannel pajamas.

“Sehun will be up and down eating all night, I know,” The man answered across the room, fiddling with objects on Baekhyun’s dresser, “And Lu is already asleep, let’s just leave them. I think they’d want space anyways.”

“You just got your brother back,” Baekhyun mumbled as he slipped into his bed, “You should sleep with him.” 

Chanyeol frowned and turned around to look at him, “Do you just not want me here? I can.. I can go, it’s no big de-“

“That’s not it. That.. that’s  _ really  _ not it and you know It,” The smaller whispered, blushing a bit at how desperate he sounded.

Perhaps it was simply because of Sehun’s words earlier and the fact that Chanyeol didn’t  _ deny  _ it, but Baekhyun felt more flustered than usual around the man.

That was okay, because Chanyeol was light pink too. 

“Okay. Good..” The man mumbled and Baekhyun laughed because he knew they must look ridiculous for two grown men to be flustered over a crush.

“Chanyeol, just come here, please.” Baekhyun whispered, sitting up against the headboard and leaning over to dig into his side table, “I want to talk to you.” 

“I.. I wanted to talk to you too.” 

Baekhyun smiled softly as Chanyeol climbed into the bed eyeing his profile.

He pulled a metal box out from his side table before sitting up to place it between them, “This was.. well, it’s my dads. Now, it’s mine.” 

Chanyeol made a choking noise as he sat up to look in the box.

It was  _ full  _ of bills and gold coins, many, many jewelry items inside. A literally  _ gold mine. _

“I.. there’s more, he has a vault downstairs, and another a town over in a small cottage. I’m not.. I’m not trying to brag, I’m showing you because.. because if we’re serious about doing this, then I want all of you guys to be prepared if.. if things go south.. I’m not just going to leave you defenseless..” 

“This is worth more than  _ me.”  _

“Don’t say that,” Baekhyun hissed, grabbing Chanyeol's hand, “This is  _ not  _ worth more than you; you’re worth way more, unspeakable numbers, okay? I’d pay  _ so much  _ for any of you, Chanyeol. I’m serious. You’re a person. Luhan is a person. Sehun is a person - people aren’t  _ worth _ merely gold coins, cash, treasure. We’re talking about people, okay?”

Chanyeol’s tongue was tied so he gave a nod, gulping. 

“Okay.” Baekhyun mumbled, closing the box and leaning over to slide it under his bed, “Now. What’d you want to say?” 

All at once Chanyeol sunk into the bed and turned red, pulling the blankets close to his chest and turning his head so the light from the side table lantern reflected off his cheeks. “I.. uh..”

Baekhyun smiled prettily, “This about earlier?” 

Chanyeol looked at him nervously, “It’s.. okay, I mean, Sehun doesn’t know.. I’m just.. you’re a higher clas-“

“Did I ever give you the impression I didn’t feel the same?” The smaller interrupted softly, moving to sit up on his knees, “Can I kiss you?” 

“W-What? What? You.. me? I don’t, Baekhyun… I’m really..  _ not..” _

“It’s okay to say no to me, Chanyeol. You’re  _ no _ slave anymore.”

“Yes. Then.. then I say yes.” 

Baekhyun found him adorable as he leaned over to cup the man's chin, felt Chanyeol's hand shakily touch his jaw, how Chanyeol was so adorable he had  _ no  _ idea, but it didn’t change anything.

Him being a Noye  _ also  _ didn’t change anything, because Baekhyun had never felt for another person so much before.

Perhaps loneliness brought them together, or it was purely Baekhyun being naive, but he was in love with the way Chanyeol's lips felt against his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody online these days? 
> 
> Also, I posted another short thing in the next book series


	43. You Choose (Dystopia)

“At this rate he might be the slave, maybe we could sell him, huh?” 

Chanyeol clenched his jaw even though he knew Sehun just had a sick sense of humor,  _ “Please  _ stop talking about him like that.” 

The teenager laughed and Chanyeol was nearly positive the other only continued to be so annoying because it made him mad.

Sehun  _ always  _ liked to push buttons.

“Okay, okay!” Sehun cried, “But seriously, what are you thinking?” 

Chanyeol sighed, looking up from his map to watch Baekhyun dodge Luhan in the doorway with a plate in his hands, “Lu! You’re going to make me trip, calm down, baby! I’m coming!” 

_ “B-Baekie! Tag!” _

“Let’s eat lunch first, okay? Lunch and then we can play tag, pumpkin.” 

“Mmkay!”

“God you’re ridiculous,” Sehun commented, making his ears redden and look back down at the map on the glass table. 

Luhan had wanted to play outside, and nobody really argued with the boy, so everyone was outside, Baekhyun had been adamant about needing to buy the boy at least  _ some  _ toys, but had yet to make it down to the village again, lately they’d just been making due with what they had.

“Shut up,” Chanyeol whispered.

“Who’s ridiculous?” Baekhyun chirped, placing a plate of sandwiches on the table and within a second Luhan was climbing onto the chair and into Sehun’s lap as if there  _ wasn’t  _ a spare chair beside him.

Nobody said a thing though because Baekhyun was worming in to take a seat on Chanyeol's thigh too, wrapping an arm around the back of his neck, “Who’s ridiculous?” He repeated softly, pressing a kiss to the others temple.

“Chanyeol,” Sehun snickered.

Said man rolled his eyes even though he was aware he was bright red, arm wrapping around Baekhyun’s hips and leaning over his lap, “We were discussing the map. Where to go next.” 

Baekhyun hummed, nails racking through Chanyeol's hair as he pushed the plate off the corner of the map and more towards Sehun and Luhan.

They all knew all of the food would be gobbled by them anyways.

“Let’s see… you said there weren’t a lot of trees at the..  _ facility.”  _ Baekhyun said cautiously, and normally they’d replace the slave camp with a curse word or something equally as horrible, but Luhan was here and they tried to keep aggression to a minimum. “It looks like… babe, do you have the pen? Thank you..” He mumbled, accepting the pen and oblivious to the wiggly eyebrows Sehun sent Chanyeol or the looks they were sending back and forth. 

“There was also… this.. tank..” Sehun scrunched his nose up in thought, “I don’t know, I just remember Soo once fell from it, like.. from pretty high.” 

“S-Soo?” Luhan muffled on his mouthful, wide and hopeful eyes.

“No, Lu. Not yet, we haven’t found him yet.” Chanyeol answered reluctantly, watching the youngests shoulders drop in sadness.

“Like.. a water tank? Or a fuel tank?” Baekhyun asked, clicking the pen opened and closed.

Sehun laughed, “Hey, you’re looking at someone that had three years of school education, I don’t know the difference.” 

Baekhyun frowned and needed to figure out what to do about  _ that  _ too, but first they had priorities, and while Luhan very much needed to be taught the most given he’d  _ never  _ gotten much more education than from other slaves, he couldn’t really concern himself with it at the moment. 

“I think it was a fuel tank,” Chanyeol answered, pressing his chin to Baekhyun’s shoulder, “Like, I remember the guards making us refill it, something about  _ lights  _ or something.”

“Ah,” Baekhyun mused, “A generator, that takes up a lot of space…” He scanned the map, eyes looking for clear areas of land.

There were only a few that had no trees, so Baekhyun had to go off of the soldiers who warned him of things to the  _ south.  _

And to the south of them was a large opened area and he was quick to place a black X over it. “I think this has to be where you guys came from,” He nodded to himself, “This is the only area it could be. And if Chan ran through the trees.. let’s.. what do you remember, Sehun?” 

“Uh..” The teenager scratched his head, “I didn’t get far, I remember train tracks, but they got Luhan and I had to turn back, we don’t.. we..” 

“We don’t leave each other,” Chanyeol answered into Baekhyun’s hair.

“Hey, at least we didn’t get the dogs on us, I heard them barking pretty close by though. I thought they were going after Chanyeol, but likely.. maybe it was Jongin..” 

Baekhyun  _ didn’t  _ really see the light in that, but Sehun sounded like he did and again he was reminded that these were people that  _ had  _ to see the light in everything they did or they  _ wouldn’t  _ have anything good at all.

How cruel.

“Okay, train tracks, so.. I’m thinking that… over here is the only set that runs south.. I think if we check this area…” Baekhyun circled a good few miles of land, “We might be able to go through with  _ something  _ good, you know? I mean, worst we could do is just.. we can pack up, head to the woods for a while to look. As long as I’m there I can claim you all as mine.. I mean, Chanyeol.. I-I legally.. Chan and I could get documents, married, they’d think you two were ours-“

“What?” Chanyeol whispered into his arm.

Baekhyun flustered and didn’t look at him instead continuing to look at the map, “We can wait a week or two, gather supplies, let’s camp out there for a while. It’s too many miles to do within a single day. I can rent us a buggy, it wouldn’t be too much walking, but it would be.. odd if we got caught..,” 

Sehun looked at him approvingly for once, “Devotion.” 

“Can I  _ talk  _ to you?” Chanyeol growled again, standing up and making the smaller squeak as he encased a hand around his wrist and started pulling him towards the back door.

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun whined, “Busy!”

“Y-Yeol! D-Don’t be-e mea-n to Bae-kie!”

“Yeah! Don’t be mean to me!” Baekhyun cried as he was tugged inside.

“Are you completely insane!” Chanyeol yelled, slamming the backdoor before pacing the kitchen, “You want to show up to a  _ courthouse _ with me? Baekhyun, I have no documents! I have nothing! You know how suspicious that would be?” 

Baekhyun jumped when the other hit a hand against the counter, “I.. I’m sorry..” 

“And how  _ low  _ would you go! You, marrying  _ me?  _ Please, Baekhyun! I’m literally dirt, and you have a  _ family name!  _ You’d disgrace them like that? With  _ me?  _ Fuck, that - how dare you do this to me! False hope of  _ being  _ someone! Knowing I’m  _ nothing! I’m nothing!” _

Baekhyun ran to drape himself over Chanyeol's back when the man burst into tears, dropping to the floor, “Chan. Sh, honey calm down, calm down. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I love you, I’m sorry.” 

_ “Stop messing with me!”  _ Chanyeol sobbed in a ball.

“I’m not, I’m not, I promise. I’m not kidding, I’m being serious, I’m always serious about you, Chanyeol. Please stop, calm down.” 

“I have nothing to give you,” Chanyeol cried softly, knee under his chin as Baekhyun wrapped around his back, “I-I’d make your name  _ nothing, Baekhyun.”  _

“Sh, no. Baby, no. You’d make my name so much  _ stronger. _ You think I’d not want it? Of course I want you with my name, Chanyeol. My dad would be so proud in fact, my mom too, it’s  _ okay.  _ It’s okay, I love you and I’d want you in my family.” 

He couldn’t tell if Chanyeol was just finally breaking down, if so it had taken so long, because Luhan and Sehun had both had major breakdowns the second and third days, but Chanyeol  _ never  _ really did.

He had just ignored and distrusted Baekhyun for weeks, but he’d never really lashed out or cried. 

Not like Luhan had been doing every night at exactly the same time, or as Sehun had been forcing himself to stay awake until god awful hours for no reasons the teenager wanted to discuss.

“Love you, Chanyeol, okay? Do you  _ want _ to marry me? You  _ never  _ have to do anything ever, you know that, right? I’d never make you do anything.” 

Chanyeol sniffed rather loudly and nodded making Baekhyun coo softly and pet the back of his neck, “Sh. We can take care of it, okay? I have a friend that works at the courthouse, I can convince him to marry us secretly. We only need the documents as backup.” 

“Y-Yeah?” 

“Yeah, his name is Jongdae,” Baekhyun whispered, sitting on the tile and petting Chanyeol's temple, “I once gave him money when his mother was sick, he’d be very happy to do it. Whenever you want we can run down to the village and buy supplies, and do it, only if that’s what you want. I love you, and I’m not doing this because of legality, but because I never wanted to marry before in my life until now.” 

Chanyeol’s eyes were all puffy and crying  _ really  _ didn’t fit him, but even the strongest of people needed to cry every once in a while, and Baekhyun couldn't fathom how Chanyeol  _ hadn’t  _ yet, because he was so strong.

“Really?” 

Baekhyun nodded and pressed lips to his forehead, combing hair from his face, “Of course, yes.” 

“Can.. we go tomorrow?” 

“Whenever you want, Chanyeol. Whatever you want, honey.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me vs anxiety: 🥺+💣
> 
> (Btw I posted another baby Baek drabble)


	44. Pure (Dystopia)

Baekhyun woke up that night to crying.

Originally, he’d thought it was Luhan because around this time of night the boy had nightmares, but it was too far away to be when Luhan was in the room beside theirs.

Chanyeol was also dead asleep, and normally he was the first one up.

Baekhyun sat up to press a kiss to the others neck softly and earned a small, smacking lip groan that was more than adorable.

Then he was climbing out of bed, carefully making his way out the door to peek in on Luhan, but the youngest was passed out with a book on his floor and that made Baekhyun cringe because Luhan couldn’t read.

He wasn’t even sure if Sehun could, but the teenager never really mentioned anything at all more than he needed to.

Baekhyun tried not to take it personally, he knew that it was a big change, but Sehun was a very aggressive person, so it was difficult to understand him.

But it was undeniable that it was him sitting on the living room floor with his head in his hands and his blankets all dragged from upstairs down into the living room.

They had rooms, but just like Chanyeol, Sehun was big on night eating and Baekhyun pretended not to notice wrappers around because the teenager wasn’t nearly as slick as Chanyeol had been about sneaking around.

He’d even noticed things in his own room moved about and figured it was Sehun, because at the time Chanyeol and Luhan had been outside playing, but that was okay and he didn’t mention it because he had nothing to hide from them.

And if it was money Sehun wanted then Baekhyun would give him it.

“Sehun?” 

The teenager snapped up at the speed of light as if he wasn’t sobbing, crossing his arms with a scowl, “It’s late.” 

“It  _ is  _ late,” Baekhyun agreed, walking around the stairs to the kitchen as if he wasn’t down here to check on him.

He suspected Sehun would just aggressively deny crying anyways, so Baekhyun didn’t mention it.

“Is there anything you wanted specifically from town? Chanyeol and I will try to be as fast as we can, Lu already requested some new clothes. You want something specific?” 

“Why are you marrying Chanyeol?” 

Baekhyun shut the fridge with a frown, turning to lean over the half wall to look into the living room. “Because I love him,” He said easily, “Because we’re both adults and we love each other, and even if we  _ weren’t  _ doing something.. potentially dangerous I would still love him.” 

Sehun's entire face was one of pain as he kicked at the coffee table just enough for it to scoot away from him. “Because he’s  _ pure,  _ right? Because they always said Chanyeol was  _ too old  _ to be sold and Luhan was  _ too young,  _ but I was just right. So I get to be  _ dirty  _ and raped, right? Because I deserve as much? Now I can never get married. I can never fall in love. I can nev-never find something like that because I’m ruined.” 

“Oh, sweetheart,” Baekhyun crooned as Sehun burst into sobs, coming around the wall to the living room, “You’re not dirty. Sehun, you’re very pure, sh.” 

He didn’t know that it was okay, but he had no other way to comfort him but hugging his head to his chest, but Sehun didn’t fight or voice disapproval at all.

“Sweet boy, you’re not ruined. You’re not. You’re going to be just fine, Sehun. Somebody is going to love you so much one day that things like that  _ don’t  _ matter. They’re going to understand that you had  _ no choice,  _ that you had no say, that you’re a victim of society. 

Like I see in Chanyeol, like I do you and Luhan, there’s going to be  _ someone  _ that can love you like that, Sehun. I love you, I know you might hate me, but I do love you, and I care about you and I hope one day we can see eye to eye and you can trust me. That’s not right now, but that’s  _ okay.”  _

He didn’t necessarily  _ know  _ Sehun. He didn’t know half of Sehun versus the things he knew of Chanyeol or Luhan, but that didn’t mean Sehun was  _ anything  _ less.

That didn’t mean he was anything other than a teenager that was exploited, or that he wasn’t just  _ that -  _ a teenager. 

A child, and children needed a lot of love and Sehun never had that. 

That wasn’t even considered sad, but  _ terrorizing  _ to live in a place you felt unloved or lost in. 

Baekhyun scooted up to lay on the couch, recognizing the bump under the cushion only when he pulled the object out.

“You like The Little Prince?”

“Be-been listening to you tell Luhan it.” Sehun stuttered, wiping his eyes.

Baekhyun clicked his tongue and laid down on the couch before patting the space beside him, “I can read to you too, you know. Come here, I’ll read to you, Hunnie.”

******

“Baek, hey. Get up, beautiful. Baekhyun.” 

“Baekie! M-Morn-ning!”

Baekhyun woke up with a laugh, reaching over to try and grab Luhan’s arm when the boy pressed a wet kiss to his cheek and took off, sighing and rolling his eyes when he looked straight up at Chanyeol hovering over the couch. 

“Creepy,” He teased, reaching up to tug the other down for a quick kiss.

“Mhm, fun night?” Chanyeol smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek and pointing down at his stomach.

Baekhyun hummed, confused before looking down at Sehun sleeping on his stomach.

“Bonding,” Baekhyun yawned, petting the teenagers hair and watching Chanyeol walk into the kitchen. 

“I’m sure, you’re very impressionable, you know.” 

Laughing, Baekhyun sat up on his elbow, “What’s that mean?” 

Chanyeol grinned and shrugged a bit, “Nothing. You just make people love you really fast.” 

“L-Love Baekie!” Luhan agreed, popping his head around the corner of the dining room, “C-Can.. y-you g-ge-t mo-re boo-ks?” 

“Get you whatever you want if you come give me another kiss!” Baekhyun teased, “Come give me another kiss and then when Chan and I come back again later I’ll give you so many kisses as your brother, Lulu!” 

Luhan gasped dramatically and ran full speed across the room to the couch.

Accompanied by the snoring at his stomach and the booming laugh from the kitchen, Baekhyun couldn't regret doing the right thing.

Even if he knew some would disagree with his definition of  _ right. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tired of rude, immature, and straight up unneeded comments, so if it says guest commenters cannot comment, apologies. 
> 
> I’m doing this all for free while about to be taking seventeen units, I legitimately do not have time for this.


	45. Odd (Dystopia)

“I-I’ll dr-ive!”

“In your dreams,” Chanyeol commented, snatching Luhan out of the front seat, “You, little man, are sitting in the back. Go.” 

Luhan pouted up a storm at that and Baekhyun  _ saw  _ Chanyeol beginning to relent and snickered, tossing a bag into the back, “Lulu, we need you back here to babysit Sehun, okay?” 

“Hey.” The teenager whined, poking his head out from the backseat to look at him, “Rude, Baek.” 

“But am I wrong?” 

Sehun grumbled and plopped back down properly into his seat.

Baekhyun laughed and pushed Luhan towards the backseat, “Did everyone get what they needed? We don’t know how long it will take.. we may need more blankets, oh, shit. I forgot the cash, fu-“

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol crooned, “Calm down, things are going to be okay. Whatever conditions are out there I can  _ assure you  _ are not worse than we’ve had before. Calm down, I grabbed the cash, I hid some in their backpacks. Don’t  _ worry.  _ I have all our papers, I have our things. The only thing you need to worry about is me not crashing this thing.” 

Baekhyun laughed and climbed into the passenger seat with a sigh, hugging into the others side, “Trust you not to kill us. It’d be a real shame when we’ve  _ just  _ gotten married, baby. We haven’t even celebrated!” 

Chanyeol cheeks turned red as he cleared his throat, and Baekhyun giggled into his side, “You’re insane.” 

“Let’s follow the map before you guys make me puke!” Sehun cried.

******

The cart turned out to be a good idea as it was narrow enough not to get stuck on too many trees, but they all knew there would be a time where they’d have to leave it behind.

Either when they run out of fuel or when they meet too fruitful of an area of land and cannot go on the cart any longer.

Until then, they had gotten miles and for someone that didn’t know how to drive Chanyeol was way better than Baekhyun when he had tried to drive as a teenager.

It made Baekhyun a bit upset because at the time he had taken advantage of the fact he legally could get a license, but never got one, while Chanyeol would legally never be able to drive vehicles like these. 

Just one of the things on the list of things Baekhyun wanted to appreciate more.

“Sehun is asleep in the cart.” 

Baekhyun hummed and threw a blanket into the tent onto Luhan, “You going to bring him in here? It’s too cold for him not to be inside.” 

“Okay, I’ll be back.” 

He hummed and heard the sticks crackling as Chanyeol walked away, busying himself tucking Luhan in.

They’d placed him in the middle that way he’d stay warm when they eventually crawled into the tent to sleep too, but Baekhyun still worried.

It was just really cold and Sehun and Luhan were both so thin, he didn’t  _ regret  _ coming to look for the others, definitely not.

But he wished they’d had more time to adjust.

It was okay because they had a lot of food and supplies packed, and if need be he and Chanyeol would trudge or drive miles down the mountain to the village for more, but it was a matter of safety for them to be out here.

Baekhyun wasn’t even completely sure his and Chanyeol documents could account for Chanyeol not to be arrested, so he was even more paranoid about them being so close, but so far from the compound.

They could never be fully sure where they were when looking at a map and trees began to look the same.

“Watch out, Baek.” 

Baekhyun climbed out of the tent to watch Chanyeol place Sehun inside, admiring the other man for his strength even though he -again - wished they’d had longer to build strength.

None of them seemed to have any complaints at all though, so he couldn’t complain either.

“Sh, it’s just me. Hey, Sehun. It’s me, it’s just me.” 

Baekhyun frowned and wanted to see what was going on, but only a second later Chanyeol was climbing out and zipping it up to protect them from the bugs and elements.

“Long day?”

“It will be worth it,” Chanyeol answered, walking over to grab his hand, “Let’s walk a bit.” 

Raising a brow, Baekhyun intertwined their fingers, “Everything okay?” 

“Of course. Sehun just has.. nightmares, it’s okay. It’s nothing compared to what things  _ could  _ be like right now. He calms down really fast.” 

“I wasn’t talking about that, handsome,” Baekhyun whispered, squinting down at the twigs cracking under his feet.

Chanyeol stopped abruptly, tugging him into his chest and Baekhyun went instantly because whatever the other wanted he got. “Just… I don’t want to get their hopes up.. it’s been a long time since we ran.. even if we  _ find  _ them.. it- they couldn’t be alive out here.” 

Baekhyun tsked, “Of course they could. Don’t say that, Chan. They could still make it. We don’t know that. And if they’re anything like you guys then they’ll be  _ fine.  _ Maybe they got lucky.” 

“I think I’m the only one of us that got  _ lucky.”  _

Normally, such a thing would sound like a compliment, but not in the context of comparing his circumstances to those of his missing friends. 

“I guess I’m selfish to just be grateful that you found me rather than kept running,” Baekhyun admitted, taking a seat on the slightly damp grass and tugging Chanyeol's pant leg, “I keep finding myself reminded how selfish I am lately. I was given so much more, yet I kept wanting, and seeing you guys.. exposed to the truth of what’s been happening… it makes me want to do better. I’m doing what is  _ right,  _ but sometimes it doesn’t  _ feel  _ okay, do you get me?” 

“I’m really.. I-I’m selfish too.” Chanyeol whispered, knees touching Baekhyun’s as he sat across from him and crossed his legs, “I think people are meant to be selfish, because.. even.. even when you’re so willing to go find the others I just keep thinking  _ stop, stop while you’re ahead. You don’t need to ruin this.  _ Because I keep wanting more, asking for more and I know at some point my luck will… will give out and then it’s just me again, maybe not even with Luhan this time, maybe not with anyone else but myself. I’m tired of getting the short end of the stick, but I can’t stop myself from asking for more.” 

Baekhyun wanted to tell him that he had much more of a right to ask for things, to want. Way more than he did.

But at the same time he had the same fears as Chanyeol. 

What if they’d be recaptured? What if he and Chanyeol could have lived safely with Luhan and Sehun? 

Then again, things would eat at his conscience knowing what was going on and doing the  _ least  _ to help. 

He was selfish and could live selfishly just as they were now, but he had a heart and knew that once he met the others he wouldn’t want to just leave them behind either.

“What do you keep asking for?” He whispered, toying with a string on his pants.

Chanyeol sat up on his knees to push Baekhyun’s shoulders down into the grass and earning a gasp from the smaller, a confused look as he placed himself on top of him, “Is this okay?”

“Of course,” Baekhyun whispered, licking his lips and eyes Chanyeol's face so close to his he could feel the warmth of his breath, “We’re married, there’s nothing you could do I wouldn’t be okay with.” 

“I keep asking to have you like this,” Chanyeol whispered, “But I’m scared, I’ve never done this before.” 

“Me either. Please be careful with me.” Baekhyun requested, curling his fingers into the man's scalp and tugging his lips down onto his.

It only took a minute for Chanyeol to be touching over his clothes, fingers fiddling with his jeans as Baekhyun kissed his mouth, leg sliding between the others and even when he felt a stick poking uncomfortably into his spine he only grunted and rolled them over so Chanyeol was in the grass instead, tossing his leg over his hips and working on the others jean buttons. 

“Wait, Baekhyun.” 

Instantly Baekhyun pulled his hands away, having to lean close to see Chanyeol's face through the dark. 

“Will you.. you love me even if something happens to us?” 

It wasn’t even a question Baekhyun had to think about.

He surged down to press a wet and soft kiss to his mouth, eyeing the way Chanyeol licked his mouth when he pulled away, “Of course. Of course, Chanyeol. I’ll love you as long as I can.” 

Chanyeol smiled and it reminded Baekhyun how pretty a sight it was, “Me too.” 

Baekhyun giggled and pecked his lips again before sitting back and fumbling with his jeans again, “We must seem  _ ridiculous.  _ Who consummates a marriage in the woods?”

“I think we’re just.. an odd couple.” Chanyeol answered, sitting up to cover Baekhyun giggling with his mouth.


	46. Fate (Dystopia)

They’d been searching.

For weeks in fact they’d been searching.

It was just getting to the point where he and Chanyeol were sending worried glances to one another because they both knew it was time to retreat, to regroup.

They needed to go get more supplies and Luhan had been sniffling lately and the last thing they needed was for the boy to get sick when they had been bathing in cold creek water.

What they needed was a hot bath for him, but Luhan wasn’t even pretending to be sick, he was just normal and jumpy and giggly and only being calm when it was time for Baekhyun to teach him and Sehun something.

Although Chanyeol had been sixteen when he was taken, Baekhyun sometimes saw him watching over his shoulder what they were learning.

Maybe to refresh because it had been so long for him to see such things, or maybe just because he didn’t know.

Either was  _ fine  _ because Baekhyun didn’t think him stupid or uneducated at all, but didn’t mention it because sometimes he felt there were lines that he shouldn’t cross.

Because he couldn’t relate to them sometimes and that was okay, they were all entitled to their secrets.

“Baekhyun, we should talk..” 

Baekhyun pressed a kiss to Chanyeol’s cheek and stood up from the fire, “After I read to them, okay?” 

“Baek..”

“Please,” Baekhyun whispered, kneeling down to kiss Chanyeol's forehead, “Sehuns going to flip, let’s get him in a good mood first, okay?” 

Chanyeol sighed, but raised his chin for a kiss anyways and Baekhyun took that as an okay, kissing his lips until he felt a smile on the others mouth before giggling and stepping over towards the tent. 

“Kids! Let’s learn!” 

Luhan popped his head out from inside the tent instantly and Baekhyun snickered as he started tossing his toys out, “Get the letter book, baby. Let’s see what you remember.” He requested.

“A-All I-it!” Luhan claimed. “M-Memb-er all!”

“Mhm, I’m sure you do, smart boy.” 

“I’m not a kid!” Sehun cried as he came from somewhere behind the trees, Baekhyun really had no idea what the other liked to do for fun other than following Luhan around and claiming to be  _ babysitting. _

“Sure, Sehunnie,” Chanyeol teased.

“I’ll have Baekhyun beat you up.” Sehun hissed, tossing a huge stick into his hand on the ground beside the fire before turning to run towards where Baekhyun was sitting on the ground. “Baek! Chanyeol threatened me!”

_ “Did not!”  _ Chanyeol gawked.

“Chanyeol, be nice!” Baekhyun scolded despite the fact he could hear it all; the truth was he just liked Sehun smiling and tried to make sure the boy always was, even if it meant getting a pout from his husband. 

“Here!”

“Oh, that sounded so good, baby,” Baekhyun cooed, accepting the book into his lap that Luhan was more  _ throwing  _ at him than giving him. “Your stutter isn’t so bad these days, Lu, sounds so good.” 

It wasn’t exactly true as Luhan mostly stuttered when he had very high emotions, even happy ones, but Baekhyun noticed when he was afraid or uncomfortable it was nearly impossible to understand what he was saying.

No  _ wonder  _ he’d had a hard time with others because they had scared him so much he couldn’t talk.

That didn’t make him stupid, it made him a  _ scared child. _

“Okay. I’m tired of being second best, let’s see them,” Sehun whined impatiently.

Baekhyun snickered and opened the book.

It was simply an alphabet book, one you would show to toddlers and get them familiar with letters, but Sehun and Luhan  _ hadn’t  _ really gotten the opportunity when they were young, and each of their notebooks were filled with copies of the letters.

Admittedly, Sehun was a bit more behind simply because he was older and needed more time to absorb the material.

He had blamed it on his  _ whore of a mother  _ and Chanyeol had instantly taken him away to  _ cool off _ even though Luhan didn’t seem to care about Sehun being mad at all, he’d heard much worse in the past and that wasn’t even debatable, but Baekhyun figured it had more to do with Sehun's mother literally being a Noye prostitute. 

Sehun just really hated anything to do with things within that realm, and Baekhyun couldn't scold him for something when he was worked up for a  _ right  _ reason, but for the  _ wrong  _ context of it.

It wasn’t his mother's fault just as it wasn’t his, but Sehun needed more time to understand that. 

“You guys want to sing the alphabet today? Sehun, you start,” 

“I’m not a kid, Baek.” 

“But it helps you memorize,” Baekhyun argued, “Come in, Hunnie. Nobody judges you, you know that. I’ll read your favorite tonight if you do it for practice.” 

Sehun stuck his chin out in thought before looking at the book and mumbling so quietly Baekhyun couldn't even hear it over Luhan’s loud whispering of it, but that was okay because he caught the teenager multiple times whispering the song and knew Sehun was doing fine.

“Baek?”

Baekhyun hummed and gave Chanyeol a  _ just a second  _ finger held up as he tried to turn the page of the letters to the mumbling. 

“Baek.” 

“Babe, just a secon-“

“Baekhyun!” 

Baekhyun jumped at the loud footsteps and jumped to his feet, putting his arms up and at the same time backing up into Sehun and Luhan, ankles hitting one of their knees. 

“Let me go!” He heard Chanyeol yell.

“We’re not doing anything!” Baekhyun yelled at the man pointing a gun at him, “We’re not doing anything illegal! Leave us!” 

“So is that  _ not  _ the Noye that has photos up in town square?” 

Baekhyun’s face smoothed out as his jaw clenched, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s my  _ husband  _ and I have the papers to prove it!” He hissed.

The other obviously wasn’t buying it and Baekhyun spared a glance over to see Chanyeol with two others holding his arms, just  _ sitting.  _ Like he’d given up. 

Fuck.

“They’re just kids!” Baekhyun cried, tugging Sehun and Luhan behind his legs as if that would do  _ anything,  _ “Please! Please, I can pay you! Don’t hurt any of them! We’re not doing anything bad! We’re just.. we’re..” 

“Hey. I know you…” 

Suddenly the gun pointed at him was gone as a second man pulled the armed man out of his face, “You, the kid. I know him.” 

“You clear them, Minseok?” 

“I mean, Jongin  _ said  _ he had a scar on his neck. That’s a  _ scar.”  _

“Jongin..” Sehun whispered into his thigh and Baekhyun clenched his fingers into Luhan’s hair because the boy was sobbing and holding his ankle.

“Who the  _ fuck  _ are you!” Chanyeol screeched, kicking once more. “Run! Run! Luhan, Sehun run!” 

“Hey! Hey! We’re not here to hurt you!” Said the man that held a gun at Baekhyun so he scoffed. “It’s a tranquilizer,” The man sighed, “Listen, my name is Junmyeon. This is Minseok, those two are Yifan and Yixing. We thought you were trafficking the Noye’s..” 

“Why the  _ fuck  _ are you here pointing guns at us!” Baekhyun yelled, dropping down to the ground to hug Luhan and Sehun to his chest, “Fuck. Who the  _ fuck  _ are you people! Why the hell are you in our business!”

Minseok ran a hand across his face before setting his gun down on the floor, “Look, take it. We’re not going to hurt you.” 

“You can  _ start  _ by letting my husband go,” Baekhyun barked, but still reached over to grab it and place it in Sehun's lap.

“You really holding onto that lie, huh?” Junmyeon mused, raising a brow.

“Because it’s  _ true.”  _ Chanyeol yelled, “And you just gave two kids a heart attack, congratulations!” 

Baekhyun felt much more relieved when Chanyeol was running over, forearms red as he sat behind them and tugged Sehun back into his chest even though the teenager wasn’t sobbing as Luhan was, but looking like he’d just died and been brought back.

He supposed if he was in Sehun's shoes he’d rather want to die instead of being sent back too. 

“Look, we run an organization,” A man with deep set dimples walked over, “For the past few months we’ve been scouting these woods, we’ve brought in two Noye’s, they claimed there were more of them that ran. This one…” He pointed to Sehun, “Matches a description, and the big one here has been all over our radars, so we thought they’d been taken.” 

“Why the  _ fuck  _ should we trust you?” Chanyeol growled.

Baekhyun was busy rocking Luhan’s head to his chest, “It’s okay, baby. You’re okay, Lu. Smart baby, you’re fine. You’re okay.” 

“I’ll go see if Zitao can get Kyungsoo or Jongin on the walkie,” Junmyeon sighed and turned to walk a ways away. 

“It’s not that you  _ need  _ to trust us, okay?” The tallest of the men said, “But let’s face it, how long do you think you can run before you get dragged back? How far do you think you can get? Can you live years like this? Can you hide forever? The world isn’t  _ ready  _ to see Noye’s as anything but slaves, but we  _ are,  _ and we have a base full of others just like you all. Just like people who see things as you do. It’s your choice if you accept or not.” 

Baekhyun turned around to look at Chanyeol, but this wasn’t something they’d ever discussed before, this wasn’t something that they’d ever considered.

This was  _ new.  _

And even if they were right it didn’t change that they were afraid of these people, they’d just attacked them out of the blue as if soldiers.

It was scary. 

“Yeah, yeah. Here,” Junmyeon walked back over, “Jongin, say something.” 

_ “Hey, Chanyeol.. if.. if that’s you.. it’s really safe, Yeol. We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys.”  _

Chanyeol’s eyes filled up and Baekhyun stared at him because this was  _ his choice.  _

He was the one that was wanted, he could live claiming Sehun and Luhan as his Noye’s as long as he wished.

But no matter what they did, nobody would see Chanyeol as much more than a runaway.

“N-Nini?” Luhan cried into his collar and Baekhyun cooed and scratched his hair as he held him under his chin.

_ “Hey! Hey, give me that- Jongin, give it! Hey, hey, guys! Sehun, you’re going to love it here. There’s so many games, we can play outside again.”  _

“K-Kyungsoo?” 

Baekhyun didn’t need to look at Sehun, because the tone of his voice said it all, he just continued to look at Chanyeol, reaching over Luhan’s back to touch his shoulder, “Whatever you  _ want,  _ Chanyeol.” 

Chanyeol’s jaw set and he nodded before looking up at the four men.

Baekhyun didn’t need to listen, because he trusted Chanyeol to set their fate in whatever direction he thought was best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopeful ending... or is it? 
> 
> How do YOU think things went for them?


	47. General (Revolt)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are going on behind the scenes, but now Chanyeol has a much more pressing issue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This story deals with slavery, rape, similar concepts as the last one

  
Nearly a hundred years before there had been an uprising.

It was an uprising that had overturned towns, killed, infected peoples minds with terror.

And still, a hundred years later, it was still present. 

It was still here.

The class system had caused the lowest of people to be nothing but slaves, peasants to do the bidding of whoever asked or ordered.

The working class worked everyday until they couldn’t any longer, to give their work onto their children, forever to carry it.

The high class shot down those who disagreed with their luxury, just as they had done a hundred years before.

There were still revolts to this day, still times of peril in which classes would argue, one would stand up, but they always ended the same.

With a sword, with a gun, with _fire._

Because a kingdom was only a kingdom with a king, and their poor, pathetic, wine enamored king would not allow disagreements that threatened his place. 

Park Chanyeol came from a family of peasants. 

He had done the impossible, and fate had allowed him to move up the ladder, to _make a name_ for himself.

When he was young, his parents had no choice but to sell him off, to be used for work, but the place he had ended up in was nowhere but the palace where he learned how to conspire, to fool. He had taken home in the knights chambers and his presence had never been missed nor questioned.

Because as a slave, he was nothing worth looking for.

But as a knight, he was whoever wore the armor.

And now, after being wounded in a recent revolt, he was discharged with more money than he could spend for his “hard work and services.” 

Little did they know that _General Park Chanyeol,_ had never been and never was on their side.

What a pitiful fate for the kingdom to assume everyone on their side when a war was raging right beneath their noses.

The thought made him laugh, because they truly had no idea.

And one day, maybe not now, maybe not in a hundred years, but one day the kingdom would fall and hierarchy would be no more for it is useless and only an excuse to reign horror.

“General! Good morning, the usual?” 

“Hello, yes please,” Chanyeol smiled, leaning over the booth, “Hey, Lu, is Minseok in today? Or is he still…” 

The man pursed his lips in reply and Chanyeol gave a short nod, “Of course. Let me know when he’ll be in?”

“You shouldn’t be working again, you should be resting.” Kyungsoo commented from behind the booth, a glare in his eyes, “How will you be of help, Chanyeol, if you’re constantly injured.” 

“Well, i’d like to think my good looks help a bit, right?” 

Kyungsoo snorted and Chanyeol laughed, moving closer to allow villagers to move through the walkway behind him.

“Will you make it to the meeting?” Luhan wondered, setting a bag of bread onto the counter, “We could use your help setting up base.” 

Chanyeol could have face palmed because sometimes Luhan was a bit _too_ transparent even though they were planning something so _illegal._

He'd always been this way, so it was impossible to scold him.

“I don’t think I can make the walk alone,” Chanyeol said truthfully, “My wound is closed, but the muscle is still tender, just making this weekly walk down here is a bit rough. I’ll be working on those _systems_ that Junmyeon asked for though, I’m doing my part,” He finished, setting a coin onto the wood along with a letter, “Be safe.” 

“You too,” Kyungsoo commented swiftly, grabbing the letter to hide at the speed of light.

It wouldn’t be too difficult should the merchants have the letter taken, nobody would understand Chanyeol’s chicken scratch of writing nor his explanations of how far along their jamming systems were going.

Everyone would simply be oblivious, just how they liked them.

The trading posts were rather packed today and Chanyeol was overly confused as to what was happening, normally such behavior was for a public hanging or punishing a thief, but not simply for buying items.

In his own thoughts, he didn’t notice he was walking right into a person until he grunted at the impact and heard a small cry.

“Oh, my god, I’m so sorry! Apologies!” Chanyeol cried, moving out of the flow of traffic to kneel down and help the boy collect the items he’d dropped.

Stones it looked like, polished stones. 

“Do you - I’m so sorry, I’ll pay for these.” He continued, looking at the boys profile before frowning.

He looked near tears over just dropping some rocks, his shirt hung over his shoulder and revealed a bony figure.

The plain, dirt colored shirt and overall disheveled form pointed to something Chanyeol couldn’t ignore.

“Do you need help?” He asked hurriedly. “Did I ruin something?” 

The boy had sad, dull, drooping eyes when he looked at him, mostly down rather than at his face and Chanyeol felt his stomach churn uncomfortably because the boy looked so young, but his eyes didn’t entertain the same idea.

 _“General…”_ The boy pointed at the pin on his shirt with dirt embedded beneath his nail.

Chanyeol nearly didn’t hear him because he was almost silent, “Yes. Yeah, I was a General, do you need help? Did you get hurt?” 

The boy was standing to his feet wide eyed instantly, looking up at him for a second before at the bread in his hand, _“Sorry.”_

“Huh? What? No, I don’t.. I don’t care about the food, are you okay? Look - you can, you can even have it, here,” Chanyeol laid it on top of the bag of stones the boy had to show he meant his words.

The others always told him he was much too forward when approaching slaves, but the truth was when he was in the same place he hated for people to not tell him exactly what they wanted from him, he’d rather hear it than left in the dark.

They couldn’t understand that.

Brown eyes stared at him confused before a small pink tongue poked out to nervously lick his lips and Chanyeol leaned down to hear what the boy had to say.

_“Help me, please.”_

Chanyeol thought he’d misheard for a moment, because nearly a second later the boy was turning to run away. 

Maybe he’d thought Chanyeol would take the food back? That he’d get him in trouble? 

“Wait! Hey! Wait!” Chanyeol's wounded leg decided then to make itself known in the tensing of the muscle so he couldn’t follow the boy. 

He sighed and wiped a hand over his face, tomorrow sounded much better than today. 


	48. Tales (Revolt)

The only thing Chanyeol could remember of the boy was the deep brown of his eyes and an almost begging look, he had no idea why the boy would simply look at him and assume he would help him.

If anything, the General badge he had should have scared the slave off more than make him ask for help.

Perhaps the others had been doing things he didn’t know, he’d have to ask next time he saw them, but for now he had a mission.

One that meant searching for a little slave boy and polished stones.

It wasn’t hard, because jewelry sales were on a specific side of the market, and there could be no other reason a boy had a bag of polished stones unless such a thing was _fun._

But what he found wasn’t _just_ stones for sale.

And he had so much to say, but couldn’t find words.

“- Ah, yes, he’s of age, don't worry. He is twenty one years old, there will be no legal issues, rest assured.” 

Chanyeol was watching a large, round woman try to _sell_ the poor boy, a small cardboard sign sat beside the array of rather ugly polished necklaces that simply read: _Nightly Auction._

The truth couldn’t be more clear as they were charging the same amount for the necklaces as to _rent_ the boy.

He wanted to puke, because the last he’d seen of such abuse had been years ago, when they’d taken in Jongin who used to be forced to put on shows as of an animal, dancing and entertaining for days only on alcohol.

“His name?” Chanyeol hissed, trying to seem calm as he cut through the line, demanding. 

The man in front of him looked ready to argue with his cutting, but Chanyeol turned so his badge glimmered and nearly instantly the other stepped down.

“Oh, General! Can you believe this, you’ve brought the General here, son!” The woman cried giddly, yanking the boy over.

Chanyeol nearly rolled his eyes at the act because the boy's shoulders scrunched uncomfortably at the hand on his arm and he also knew she was more happy about the _money_ he had rather than his place. 

“His name?” He repeated quietly, glancing at the boy for a second to find brown eyes looking nervously at him, shooting down when they locked eyes.

“This is my dear Baekhyun, he’s quite a beauty isn’t he? Very popular. For you, General, I’d allow a quick show, we can prepare a private area if you’d like to see him a bit more. I can assure you that he’s well trained.” 

_Trained._

Chanyeol felt so sick and saw Baekhyun’s entire demeanor shift into one of embarrassment, one that made it seem he’d throw up on the spot.

It wasn’t his fault and Chanyeol wanted to say as much, but knew the place wasn’t right.

“How much to keep him?” Chanyeol asked, not looking away from the boy for a second.

He heard the woman gasp dramatically, “Oh dear! I have no-“

“I’ll give you a thousand gold coins to keep him.” 

This time, it wasn’t only gasps from her, but from Baekhyun himself, cracked lips parting a bit with a concerned look in his eyes.

He looked like he wanted to tell Chanyeol not to do that, but knew better of it.

“Oh, General, I’m not sure I could _survive_ on such an amount, his father is sick..” 

He knew she was fishing, that amount was _plenty_ enough for such a poor family to live grandly, but he had no use for such money when he had a home provided for his service and more than he needed.

He just didn’t want to give her more than needed.

“A thousand five hundred, that’s all I’m willing,” Chanyeol lied through gritted teeth, he already knew that he’d be willing to give more, but she didn’t _deserve_ anything at all for selling her son this way.

“Baekhyun, Baekhyun! Do you hear that? Things will be grand! To be the General's consort, ah! I can’t believe this!” 

“Come with me, please,” Chanyeol murmured to the boy mostly to allow him to escape the woman’s grip before digging into his pocket, “I’ll give half now, and next week I will come bringing more. I need to _see_ how he behaves of course.” He lied, forcing the words out.

“Yes! Yes, my boy is _very_ good,” She said, hands out to readily accept the money, a warning in her voice.

Chanyeol had no doubt that if he gave Baekhyun back to her the boy would be injured horribly by her, good thing he wasn’t planning such a thing.

“Let's get you home then,” Chanyeol muttered, hoping he looked apologetic as he grabbed the boy's hand.

At the touch Baekhyun’s eyes shot up to look at him confused, “I.. I’m dirty..” 

Chanyeol frowned and shook his head, “That doesn’t matter to me.” 

******

Baekhyun didn’t talk much at all.

He gave a lot of head nods and shakes, but usually not much more than whispers, and that was okay because Chanyeol needed him to not say much until they were home.

So, with a bag of food and a boy trailing him, Chanyeol unlocked his door and felt unneededly nervous.

Maybe just the other rubbing off on him.

“Okay. You can bathe or eat first, whichever is better. I’ll prepare a room upstairs for you,” Chanyeol began, “I’ll have to give you some of my clothing until i can get you some, so I hope you don’t mind.” 

“Will… will we not be sharing a bed?” 

Chanyeol stiffened up, flicking on the lights and gulping, “I think you must have the wrong idea, I didn’t.. you aren’t a prostitute.” 

Baekhyun made a small confused noise and Chanyeol sighed, rubbing his temple and turning to place the food onto the coffee table, watching the smallers back as he looked at things on his bookshelf, “You asked for help, Baekhyun. Why did you ask me?” 

The boy turned around with a small frown, eyes looking more at the food on the table than him, “Said.. said… the badge was good…” 

“Who said that?” 

“A boy..” Baekhyun whispered, taking a seat on the rug and cautiously watching Chanyeol as he reached out for the food like he was scared he’d take it away, “Skinny, he had.. a scar on his cheek, tall. He didn’t tell me his name.” 

_“Sehun,”_ Chanyeol hissed under his breath, wishing they’d tell him about their plans rather than just doing so behind his back.

He didn’t want to scare an already terrified boy though, and tried to keep his anger under control, he’d just write a letter tonight and give it to Luhan tomorrow.

Right now he needed to figure out what to do with Baekhyun, because he would get the same opportunities as all of the others, to go or stay. 

Nobody ever stayed though, and part of Chanyeol wondered _why_ they always chose the bunker over his home.

Because of him? 

Or because he wasn’t safe? 

He didn’t know.

“So.” He mumbled, sitting on the couch and watching Baekhyun scarf down chunks of bread, “Did she.. treat you too bad? You’re thin, but that’s common. When I was younger my parents were more.. physical too.” 

Baekhyun’s entire face scrunched up in confusion, crumbs across his cheek when he wiped his hand across it. 

“Oh, yes, I guess I should explain,” Chanyeol laughed, “My parents were fishermen, low class peasants like yours. Perhaps I’ve done illegal things to grow, but it’s _possible,_ I’ll explain it to you later if that’s what you want.” 

Instead of replying right away, Baekhyun continued to eat, popping the lid off of a soup bowl and gulping it down.

How this boy had energy when this hungry was beyond him, but Baekhyun hadn’t complained of the walk to his home at all even though it was more towards the outskirts than the nearby slums.

Chanyeol was debating on getting up to go run that bath for him given that the boys food probably tasted more like dirt than actual nutrients because of his hands.

“They say.. I’m getting older and not as fresh. I made more for them when I was able to pretend to be a virgin.” 

Chanyeol felt so horrible he couldn’t help covering his mouth with his palm because Baekhyun sounded more like he was reciting something than speaking, maybe he’d heard such talk too often.

“Perhaps it’s because you are a man now, not a child to be raped, you’ve grown.” He whispered reluctantly because Baekhyun looked like he wanted a response.

“At least as a child if I cried they felt bad. Now they don’t care for my tears.” 

Chanyeol stood up with a clear of his throat, both wanting to escape this conversation, but that was _unfair_ when Baekhyun was willing to speak to him.

Perhaps never having spoken to someone in a long time. 

“I’ll prepare your room, Baekhyun, and you’ll be safe here.” 

He was half tempted to pet his hair affectionately, because when he’d taken Sehun in ten years before the child had loved the affection.

But he didn’t _know_ Baekhyun would too.

So he kept his hands to himself and left the boy to eat all he wanted.


	49. Closer (Revolt)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: um... it’s obvious Baekhyun was a forced prostitute, but this chapter directly relates to that concept

“Chanyeol? Ch.. Chanyeol?” 

Said man was quick to drop his book onto his side table and sit up fully against his headboard, “Come in! You can come in, Baekhyun!” 

The past week Chanyeol was really surprised by the other, Baekhyun wasn’t nearly as skittish as he’d originally thought and was actually very, very fast to come find him like he wanted to know exactly what was going on at all times.

Or, maybe the other was just testing how much he could get away with, good luck to that thought because Chanyeol found him more puppy-like the more he followed him around.

“I..” The door pulled open and revealed the boy, only he was only wearing underwear and looking all kinds of red, “Chanyeol, I think.. I’m sick.” 

“Oh my god, Baek..” Chanyeol would normally be extremely confused about the boy coming to him when so underdressed, afraid he was misunderstanding again, but he had a series of bumps across his hip and dipping beneath his waistband all red and irritated. “Oh fuck, Baekhyun, have you been itching them? Don’t move, honey, just stand there.” 

He’d seen Chickenpox before, as a child he’d gotten it, but he’d never seen it in such a weird spot before.

“It’s so itchy…” 

Fuck, he sounded like he was crying and Chanyeol felt horrible having to make him just stand there, but he needed to get some cream to put on them.

“Did you notice someone have those, Baekhyun? Did your mom have bumps like those?” He called from his bathroom.

He had already gotten Chickenpox before, so he wasn’t worried about himself getting them, but he was feeling terrible because he never checked Baekhyun over.

But, given his situation, Chanyeol didn’t feel the need to look him over, and he was much too old for him to be given the chance to look while bathing the other as he had done for Jongin and Sehun. 

Now he just felt stupid, because Baekhyun probably had no idea or was  _ used  _ to just feeling sick and didn’t say a thing.

“D-Don’t know, don’t.. it’s beca-because I’m dirty, Mama always says dirty boys get sick.” 

“Oh, sweetheart,” Chanyeol tsked and rang out his cold towel before running back into his room and tossing a jar of lotion into his bed and approaching Baekhyun who stood crying and stiff shoulders while looking at the floor, “You’re  _ not  _ dirty. This just means someone touched you while they had Chickenpox, you’re not dirty, Baekhyun.” 

“Don- don't touch,” Baekhyun cried when he approached, “You’ll get dirty!” He wailed.

Chanyeol truthfully had no idea how to deal with this, maybe he’d need to take Baekhyun to the bunker sooner than he thought to meet their doctor, but they both weren’t fit enough to make the few mile walk right now.

So he  _ had  _ to do what he could.

“Baek, sweetheart, you’re not dirty. This isn’t your fault, okay?” He whispered, carefully laying the cool rag down onto his side, “Now, I’m going to take care of it, so don’t worry, okay? Don’t worry, I’ve already had this before and won’t get sick. It’s  _ not  _ your fault.” 

Baekhyun sniffed loudly, giving a head nod, “It  _ hurts.”  _

“I know, baby. I know, just breathe.” Chanyeol cooed, and he felt distraught trying to figure out what to do when the rash was beneath Baekhyun’s underwear and he needed to clean them off and make sure they weren’t being rubbed by the fabric. 

To a certain degree he wished he would have taken Baekhyun to Luhan and Kyungsoo and they would have taken him back to the bunker with them.

But to another he was glad Baekhyun had come to him even though he was scared and confused. 

“Ch-Chanyeol, it’s itchy.” 

“I know, sweetheart.” He sighed, “Hold this really quick, please?” 

Baekhyun was still crying and Chanyeol felt terrible, but he grabbed the cold rag anyways and the other was jumping to his feet to rush to his dresser. 

“Okay. This is going to seem very bad, but you know I’d never touch you badly, right? I think we’ve established that, have we not? I’d never touch you, Baekhyun, so I need you to change into this top and take off your underwear; I  _ swear  _ I’m just going to look at the rash.” 

“I-kay..”

Chanyeol sighed in relief then felt horrible doing so when Baekhyun was still crying, if anything he was crying more, but there was no other thing to be done but take care of it.

He waited a few moments for Baekhyun to change into the top before turning around and patting the bed, “Lay down, honey. I won’t look at you,” He assured.

Baekhyun’s chin stuck out a bit when he cried and Chanyeol was both angry and apologetic at the sight, but the smaller was laying down on his front without a word, and he didn’t know if it’s because he  _ trusted him _ or if he was simply very itchy.

Either way, Baekhyun didn’t seem very uncomfortable when he pulled up the top to wipe down his hip.

Chanyeol just shook his head sympathetically but truly he was beyond angry, because Baekhyun didn’t deserve this, and it was obvious whoever had the rash had bought the boy because it ran over his bottom. 

“You okay? Talk to me, baby,” He whispered, trying to be as fast as possible to cover the bumps with lotion. “We can treat it more tomorrow, but I swear it’s not going to be here very long.” 

_ “Chanyeol..”  _ Baekhyun cried into the blanket.

“Sweetness, it’s okay. It’s not your fault,” He cooed, pulling the top down over his legs and rushing into the bathroom to wash his hands. “Baekhyun, it’s not your fault!”

He heard the other just crying his name so many times and didn’t  _ know  _ how to take that because it’d never happened before. 

It made his chest hurt. 

_ “Ch-Chanyeol..” _

It sounded so painful Chanyeol had no other options, he took a seat against his headboard again, reaching down towards the end of the bed to pet Baekhyun’s hair, “Come here. Come here, honeybee.” 

Baekhyun cried like it was the end of the world and Chanyeol had felt like maybe it  _ was,  _ the end of the world as Baekhyun had known it because he wouldn’t allow a person to be in so much pain. 

“Sweetheart. Sh, you can sleep here. You can sleep with me, you want to?” 

The smaller nodded against his chest and it felt more like Baekhyun was crying just for the sake of finally crying rather than about being sick.

“I-sorry.” 

“Sh, no, you don’t apologize it’s  _ not  _ a big deal. But just let me know next time you feel sick, okay? We can take care of it.” 

“Because I’m  _ gross. _ You don’t want me because I’m  _ dirty,  _ n-nobody wants me.” 

“Hey,” Chanyeol whispered, shifting so Baekhyun’s head was angled towards him and he could wipe his tears, “Nobody said that. You’re not dirty, okay? You’re not. I said I wasn’t  _ looking  _ because it’s not right. I never said that. In fact, I think you’re very beautiful. A very handsome man. So don’t be sad, Baekhyun. The past is nobody’s business but yours and I’ll keep things a secret.”

It took a few minutes for Baekhyun to respond, sniffing his tears up and wiping his eyes onto his top. “It’s not good.” 

“What’s not good, baby?”

“Not good.. to.. to be used. Mama said.. just a few times.. because Papa was sick, but he.. he’s not sick anymore and still more and more.. more.. it’s not good. I don’t feel good about myself..” 

Chanyeol didn’t know what bothered him more, Baekhyun admitting such a thing, that he didn’t like himself, or the fact that he’d been lied to about it.

False promises that probably filled him with so much hope, and still his mother had him out as if  _ meat  _ and not a person.

“Look at me? Please.” Chanyeol whispered, petting Baekhyun’s cheek softly, and meeting pretty brown eyes,  _ “I  _ think you deserve to feel good about yourself, so I’ll help you, sweetheart. Sound nice? Me and you will be so close, Baekhyun.” 

“.. I want that.” 

“I want that  _ too,  _ honeybee.” 


	50. Fires (Revolt)

“I made breakfast!”

Chanyeol was mid yawn and laughed, patting Baekhyun’s cheek as he walked around the couch, “Thank you, honeybee.” 

Baekhyun jumped up to follow after him at the speed of light, bypassing him to cut in front of him and push his shoulder, “Sit down!”

“You- what’s gotten into you!” Chanyeol laughed loudly, taking a seat at the table, “So squirrelly today, Baek. What’s up?” 

Baekhyun giggled and Chanyeol tried to look and see it, but the smaller was already turning around with a huge glass pan of food, “Made breakfast!”

“You _said_ that, baby,” He chuckled, “Now _why_ did you, rascal?” 

The smaller plopped down across from him with a small, nervous grin making Chanyeol raise a brow at him.

“I um.. you want to go to the market tonight?” 

“Sure, sweetness. What did you want?” Chanyeol asked easily, taking a bite of his eggs and watching the other.

Mainly because he thought Baekhyun when blushing was awfully adorable and he always thought he’d get used to the sight, but he still hadn’t.

“Maybe.. some new books?” 

Chanyeol smiled and shook his head fondly, “Of course, Baekhyun. I’ve been needing to get some parts too, we can get some of those cookies you like.” 

Baekhyun smiled really widely.

******

“Please keep this up,” Chanyeol requested for what felt like the millionth time, chuckling as he zipped the smallers jacket, “You’re going to freeze, sweetheart.” 

At this point he swore Baekhyun was just _messing_ with him, because he felt the smaller was doing all kinds of things just so he’d pay attention to him.

As if Chanyeol wasn’t taking care of him all the time.

He couldn’t complain when he loved to take care of him.

“I’m going to meet some friends, are you coming?” 

“I want to get sweets first.” Baekhyun pouted a bit.

Chanyeol wanted to _kiss_ it away, but instead grinned, “Okay, you want me to come? Do you still have some money on you?” 

“Yes, Yeol..” 

“Ah, don't sound so annoyed!” He chided playfully, pinching the tip of his nose, “I’ll be at Luhan’s stand, don't go too far please.” 

It wasn’t that he was afraid something would happen, but he was afraid Baekhyun would get into a bit of a mess when he was a known peasant and Chanyeol was more worried people would misunderstand him having so much money on him.

Baekhyun was no _thief,_ but some people were willing to say crazy things to get lower class in trouble.

“Soo!” Chanyeol yelled as he walked towards the booth, nearly hitting the light hanging on the outside as he climbed over the wood.

“Fucking giant,” He heard the other hiss and laughed, taking it upon himself to start packing up some of the bread because Baekhyun was obsessed.

“Where's Baekhyun? I’d rather see his face instead of yours.” 

“Rude,” Luhan said to Kyungsoo in his defense.

Chanyeol merely rolled his eyes, “He’s getting some sweets, watch, he's going to bring you guys stuff because he’s kind, unlike you, Kyungsoo.” 

“Cut to the chase, what do you want me to tell the others? They’re still waiting for Baekhyun to come by.”

“Well,” Chanyeol hummed, “Tell them the radio jammers are nearly finished, I picked up a few wires and then I’ll bring them for a test-“

He was cut off by the sound of screaming, suddenly people were running out of the market.

_“To the lower class, we will not stay down if you try to rise, you will die!”_

Guards. Guards. Soldiers.

Baekhyun was _there._

“Fuck! We haven’t done anything yet! There’s been no revolts!” Luhan yelled.

“Scare tactic, they're showing their place,” Kyungsoo cried, packing things up quickly.

Chanyeol saw the darkness in that direction light up in orange, _flames,_ and was not following his common sense as he climbed out of the stand, “Baekhyun!”

 _“Chanyeol! You idiot!”_ Kyungsoo screamed after him.

But Chanyeol was already running towards the madness, people kept shoving by screaming in their attempts to get away.

He was scared to admit that when he was younger he’d been involved in things like this, where they’d come to town just to reign chaos.

Back then he had _no_ choice or else he’d have given himself away.

But now he wasn’t under military rule. He’d made his name and nobody was wiser to who he really was; nobody except the revolution.

Because he _trusted_ them, even if it would be years before they were able to make a difference.

“Baekhyun!” 

Chanyeol was running right towards the fire now, “Baekhyun! Baek-“

 _“You can’t pass further!”_ A soldier was suddenly grabbing his arm.

Chanyeol growled and shoved him off, pointing at his shining badge, “I order you to let me through! I have someone out here!”

He didn’t know whether it was his ferocity or his badge that made the soldier let him through, but he _ran._

“Baekhyun! Baekhyun! B-“

Chanyeol was nearly losing his mind, hands grasping his hair as he looked at the fire because there was nowhere else to go, nowhere else to look.

Did he kill Baekhyun? 

Had he gotten the boy killed? 

Was he about to have a panic attack feet from a growing fire? 

_“Ch-Chanyeol! Chanyeol!”_

He could feel tears in his eyes as he ran to a broken stall, pushing the wood out of the way at the frantic call of his name.

And there he was.

Sitting in a pile of fruit that had rolled off when the stand went down, beside him was a body and Chanyeol didn’t _care_ if it was alive or not, because Baekhyun _was_ and he had tear stains all over his face and a red mark across his cheek presumably from the broken stand.

How dare the king just torment vendors like this? Did he not know they were the source of luxury for him? 

“Oh, baby, baby - let’s go. Let’s-“

“I.. I think I hurt my ankle,” The smaller cried, “Someone pushed me in the crowd.”

Chanyeol’s bad leg would disagree with this later, but he was instantly reaching through the mess to pick the other up, “Come on, you’re okay. You’re fine, sweetness.”

Baekhyun only gave a small cry of pain as he was jostled into his arms, hands coming to wrap around Chanyeol's neck attempting to make it easier on him. 

It didn’t matter as Chanyeol felt so much better knowing he was okay, and right here, close enough he could smell his body wash. 

“I-I’m sorry! I forgot to get you some fruit, I know you've been wanting it lately,” He heard the smaller whisper into his temple.

Chanyeol burst into laughter, but it was extremely wet and tearful, and so _inappropriate_ given the chaos they were leaving, his hand clutching Baekhyun’s spine and his bottom to hold him up. “Fuck. I don’t care. Baby, I _don’t_ care. God, I care about you so much, so much.” 

_”Care about you too, Chanyeol.”_


	51. Feel (Revolt)

Chanyeol didn’t sleep that night even though Baekhyun was completely fine other than a bruised ankle.

He didn’t sleep even though he had watched the smaller sleep peacefully on his hip all night. 

Was it  _ guilt  _ that made him feel like this?

_ Worry?  _

All he knew was that things weren’t safe here in the village anymore.

They weren’t safe for them, for  _ Baekhyun.  _

He couldn’t keep putting off the inevitable, but he didn’t want Baekhyun to go.

To leave just as the rest of them did.

As Jongin and Sehun had; to leave and do greater and grander things. 

But this was  _ different. _

He didn’t want Baekhyun to go because he was selfish. 

Chanyeol pretended all day things were fine. He had listened to Baekhyun read as usual, he’d listened to the radio speak of the market attack, he’d read through the many unopened letters from the others demanding they bring Baekhyun in so they could  _ explain. _

By explain, he knew they meant to recruit him.

He wasn’t ready to let him go, even if it was a good cause and a  _ safe  _ place.

“What’s wrong?” 

“What?” Chanyeol pulled his glasses off to set on the table to his right, “What was that, honeybee?”

Baekhyun shuffled in his spot across the room in a chair twice his size, legs curled beside him and his book resting on the arm of the chair. “What’s wrong, Yeol?”

“Nothing is wrong.”

“Then tell me why you’ve been looking at me like that all day.” 

“Like what? Perhaps I just think you’re pretty.” 

Baekhyun’s lip quirked up a small bit before shaking his head, “Like I’m a ghost. Like I’ve died. I’m right  _ here,  _ Chanyeol.” 

Chanyeol didn’t know what part of his statement to address and didn’t know quite how to start, so he started as Minseok would. “Do you think classes should exist?”

It was a difficult question, one that he’d been putting off for as long as possible because he didn’t want to scare Baekhyun.

But the answer came rather fast. “If we didn’t have classes, do you think I’d have voluntarily given my body up?” 

Chanyeol cringed because they hadn’t spoken of such things since Baekhyun’s first week here, it wasn’t exactly something either of them brought up.

“Do you believe that I wouldn’t realize what you’re all up to?” Baekhyun laughed under his breath, “Chanyeol, you do realize I’ve caught you messing with that weird machine, right?” 

“It’s a jammer,” Chanyeol sighed, “We’ll be using it to record messages and jam the radios with them, stir up some trouble.. eventually,” 

“If we didn’t have classes, do you believe I’d be pure?” 

Chanyeol hit his knuckles on the arm of the couch, “I think it’s time you leave, Baekhyun.” 

Instantly the other was balling up on himself, eyes wide and mouth parted in shock.

“I can’t protect you, and I’ve gone too far!” Chanyeol yelled, covering his eyes with his palm, “I’m a  _ recruiter!  _ My job is to bring people like you to them to be taken care of, it’s  _ not  _ part of my job to have you here too long.” 

“Then why did you!” Baekhyun yelled, throwing his book onto the floor and standing up with an angry growl, “You can’t do this!” 

“I was injured..” Chanyeol whispered, “Kingdom believed it was a rogue attack, but the truth was I was shot by my own team accidentally when I pulled one of our revolution members from harm last year during a staged raid, I gave them time to leave, but Zitao hadn’t gotten the message... They believed my story, but my leg isn’t.. it’s not up for the journey as often.. I’m practically useless to the revolution now.” 

Baekhyun didn’t seem to give a fuck about his story becauee the smaller released a hysterical sound, “It’s because I’m a whore, isn’t it? Because you won’t have me? I’ll just  _ leave  _ on my own!” 

“No!” Chanyeol hissed, jumping to his feet to rush over to the door, Baekhyun smacked his arm instantly, smaller form shaking his arm in a useless attempt to make him move, “It’s  _ not  _ safe!” 

“If you won’t  _ have me,  _ then I need to leave!” Baekhyun argued, tears streaming down his red face.

“What are you  _ talking  _ about?” He asked, leaning down to grab the smallers angry fists, “Baekhyun, what are yo-“

He was cut off by a warm mouth pressing to his, shocking him.

Chanyeol’s eyes widened in surprise as Baekhyun pulled away, not moving too far but releasing a heavy, warm breath onto his face, “Do you feel  _ filthy  _ now?” He seethed.

_ Not at all.  _

Chanyeol released his hands just to cup his face in both hands and pull him into another kiss, one of passion and longing.

Because  _ no,  _ he’d never thought Baekhyun filthy.

“Spare my feelings.” He felt the smaller cry into his mouth, fingers clutching onto his top,  _ “Please.”  _

“Sh, I want you. I want you,” Chanyeol said instantly, chest lightening the more he could confess, pulling the smaller into a hug. “I’m afraid.” 

“Of me?” Baekhyun cried, straddling his lap when Chanyeol took a seat on the floor, pressing himself to his chest as if they could somehow merge.

“Of the things you’ve made me  _ feel.”  _

Baekhyun sat back with a small smile, his face flushed red and tears drying on his face, “Truly?” 

Chanyeol was reluctant simply because he was always taught not to give away too much about himself, to preserve and be selfish. 

Because that’s how things had to  _ be  _ in their world, you had to choose how to live.

He didn’t want to be selfish anymore.

“You, Baekhyun, must be a dangerous thing,” He mused, cupping the man's cheek, “To make me feel these things, I’ve been trained  _ not  _ to feel, and yet.. here you are.” 

“Here I am.” Baekhyun whispered, leaning into his palm. “And here.. I want to stay. With you..” 

“Sweetness, you’ve been allowed to do anything you’d like since the first day,” Chanyeol smiled, “And if you want to stay with me, then all you have to do is promise not to leave, and we’ll journey together.” 

A soft kiss was placed onto his mouth and Baekhyun giggled a soft, wet and bordering on painful noise before kissing his lips again, “I’ve never been kissed before, I suppose it’s one thing I can give to you that is a first, but I’ve also never felt loved before, am I just being too hopeful?” 

Chanyeol swallowed thickly and laid his palms down onto Baekhyun’s hips to pull him close, tucking the smallers head under his chin, “You aren’t imagining anything. Your feelings are always correct, my love.” 


	52. Giver (Revolt)

A small knock came on the door and Chanyeol was quick to start putting away the electronic scraps, shoving them beneath the armchair and moving to take a seat, “Come in!”

A head of brown, disheveled curls peeked around the entryway, shuffling and nervous.

“Baekhyun, I’ve told you that you’re allowed wherever you’d like, come in, sweetheart.” Chanyeol crooned with a small smile, resting his head on his palm.

He saw the man's cheeks flush pink before the smaller was shuffling into the small office, an armful of books in his hand.

Chanyeol turned his head in amusement, “Stories?” 

“I.. I need help.” 

“Of course,” He said instantly, watching Baekhyun set his things on the couch before the smaller was flipping through one of the books and glancing up at Chanyeol before away, then down at the book nervously.

“I don’t.. Mama said that school was worthless for people like us, so I’d only gone to year ten because she didn’t want to pay the fee.” Baekhyun whispered, licking pink lips nervously and eyeing Chanyeol like he’d strike him any moment.

Chanyeol clenched his jaw and supposed he should feel privileged to have gotten a free education, but of course it didn’t really come for free when the kingdom had been grooming him to be a soldier.

But still, even then it wouldn’t have been the end of the world for Baekhyun’s mother to have paid the three silver coins to get Baekhyun the rest of the way through school.

“Let’s see what you’re reading, honeybee.” He crooned, patting the arm of his chair and turning to grab his glasses from the side table to his left.

Feet shuffled loudly on the floor before Baekhyun was  _ very  _ cautiously taking a seat on the arm of the chair, constantly watching him as if afraid he would tell him to get out any second.

Ridiculous, Chanyeol was more than glad to finally have company again.

Even if it was only for a little while.

“Okay. Let’s see.” Chanyeol whispered, grabbing the old book from his fingers and brushing a hand accidentally over the back of Baekhyun’s knuckles.

If it bothered the other, he didn’t say so; in fact, Chanyeol might just be seeing things because he thought Baekhyun relaxed a bit.

“Ah, I do love this book. Why did you choose something so sad?” Chanyeol wondered, flipping open the worn cover.

Baekhyun shifted and Chanyeol realized how odd an angle the other was at and reached over to gently pull his knees into his lap.

He wasn’t quite sitting on his lap, but just allowing his legs to rest across him seemed to make the smaller blush prettily again, his thin fingers reaching over to touch the cover of the book gently. “It may be sad, but it’s kind of realistic, right?” 

Chanyeol smiled and was tempted to pet his cheek because Baekhyun was an adorable man, much more thoughtful than he’d previously thought.

Instead of allowing himself to get carried away, he started to read.

Baekhyun was very attentive, a smart boy, and only occasionally whispered asking  _ what does it mean?  _ But every second not, he was mouthing the words near Chanyeol's ear so softly nothing was coming out but the small lip smacking in his ear as he tried to follow along.

Chanyeol wondered why Baekhyun had brought the book to him in the first place, because he was wonderful and didn’t ask too much at all.

Perhaps to just  _ see  _ if he’d be yelled at? 

It had only been days since the other had gotten here and so far Baekhyun wasn’t shy to share about his life, always went wide eyed and shaking when Chanyeol was a bit too loud, but he also didn’t seek him out much.

Chanyeol had no problems if the smaller decided to see what he could get away with, because there were no  _ rules.  _

Baekhyun could do whatever he wanted so long as he was under the same roof as him.

And truthfully Chanyeol was already dreading the day he’d bring the smaller to the bunker, but that was his place, his  _ job,  _ was to recruit.

It felt minuscule to deal with his loneliness when there were lives being taken advantage of.

_ “If everything’s the same, then there aren’t any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!” _

He heard Baekhyun make a small grunting noise, knees curling up more in his lap and Chanyeol wondered if he was sleeping, but the smaller reached over to grab the cover. 

“Jonas doesn't understand decisions.” Baekhyun mumbled as he turned pages as if he knew exactly where to find things.

Chanyeol figured the smaller must have read this book many times, and he knew when he was younger he also found it somehow interesting. 

“How so?”

“Because his life is on a certain way, it’s set a way, but it’s not that bad.” 

“But do you not think maybe he is just tired of being controlled, honeybee?” 

Baekhyun paused, eyes swimming a bit before he leaned his cheek down onto Chanyeol's shoulder and brought a hand to his lips to chew on his nail and gave the book back, “From here please.” 

Chanyeol hummed and continued, but he could feel and see the other growing tired the longer they sat there.

Truthfully, it must have been hours, because at one point Chanyeol had to hold Baekhyun up as he leaned over to turn on the lamp at his side to continue, the light outside was no longer cutting it, but he was much too worried of ruining this than telling Baekhyun it was too late to be reading.

He already pretended he didn’t notice his bookshelves in the living room were already becoming sparse, but Baekhyun was welcome to anything he could find.

_ “I liked the feeling of love,” he confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. “I wish we still had that,” he whispered. “Of course,” he added quickly, “I do understand that it wouldn’t work very well. And that it’s much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live.” _

Chanyeol felt a small movement on his shoulder that shuffled closer, Baekhyun’s eyes were closed, mouth smacking a small bit and he figured the smaller to be asleep, but as soon as the book was smacking closed brown eyes were popping open rimmed in red and a thin hand coming to grasp his wrist.

“Sh, go back to sleep.” Chanyeol whispered, dragging a palm across his spine softly. 

“Not.. asleep,” The smaller mumbled, but very much looked asleep as he closed his eyes again, “Wasn’t.” 

Smiling, Chanyeol took his sleepiness as a chance to feel soft waves on his head, “Of course not, sweetness.” 

Baekhyun’s mouth pulled the smallest bit at the corners and it was the sleepiest, most adorable thing he’d ever seen. “Jonas is right this time,” He whispered, voice softening out tiredly, “Love is a dangerous emotion, maybe it’d be best we got rid of it.” 

He frowned, “Surely you mean lust. Love and lust are different, Baekhyun. I wish you knew the difference.” 

If he did or didn’t, Baekhyun didn’t give a response and it was due to the soft snoring into his shoulder.

Chanyeol sighed and set the book down onto the side table before sliding an arm under Baekhyun’s knees and behind his shoulders.  _ “They’re not the same,”  _ He whispered as he stood up to carry the smaller to bed.


	53. True (Revolt)

“It only took you three months!” 

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and shoved Jongdae off of him, turning to help Baekhyun down the ladder of the bunker, “Baekhyun helped me, my leg nearly gave out halfway.” 

“So _this_ is Baekhyun?” Minseok drawled.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Chanyeol soothed when Baekhyun tucked into his side uncomfortably, fingers grabbing at his sleeve, his backpack rattling around. “This is Minseok and Jongdae, you will learn of the others as we go.” He explained, gently tugging the smaller down the cement hallway, “Min, outside is a wheelbarrow, it has jammers, we can work on them later.” 

“Wait,” The man ordered, “Does this mean you’re finally _staying?”_

Chanyeol twisted his mouth in thought as Baekhyun grasped his hand, “I’ll stay a few days, we’ll have to discuss it… is Junmyeon here? And Yixing?” 

“Down the hall,” Jongdae answered as he climbed the ladder to the outside.

“Thank you.” He murmured, juggling his bag on his shoulder and reaching down to accept Baekhyun’s hand as he pulled him into the bunker.

It was a very large space, an old army bunker from hundreds of years before, and it had so many people already.

Unfortunately it also had weapons and items not for new arrivals, but Baekhyun was an exception.

He always _was,_ and Chanyeol would make sure he had the access numbers to everywhere he needed to go. 

“You sure you’d like to do this, my love?” He asked, bringing Baekhyun’s knuckles to his lips for a quick kiss. 

Baekhyun was chewing his lips so much he had no idea if it was because of the cold few miles they’d walked or simply because of nerves. 

Brown eyes blinked up at him with a slightly tired gaze, “I need to make sure.” 

Chanyeol clicked his tongue but overall didn’t argue even though he knew Baekhyun didn’t want to speak of such matters with others, in the end it was the others' decision what he did with himself. “We will go now then, and then find a spare room. Careful if you share your books with the kids, you probably won’t get them back,” He teased.

“Then you’ll buy me new ones?”

“Of course, sweetness,” Chanyeol smiled, releasing his hand to bring him closer and kiss his temple. “Buy you a new anything.” He promised.

Baekhyun’s smile was _really_ beautiful, he stood on his top toes for a kiss and _that_ was even more beautiful and who could stand to say no to such a sweet sight.

Certainly not Chanyeol, and he pressed a handful of kisses to his cold mouth instantly before pulling away with a reassuring look and pushing the double doors open.

“Chanyeol!” He was greeted with a loud yell and snickered at the teenager running towards them. 

“Yeah, yeah, hello to you too. We will come meet everyone in a bit, Jongin, but we actually need to see Yixing and Jun alone.” 

“Everything okay?” Junmyeon commented across the infirmary, eyeing Baekhyun.

Chanyeol didn’t like to see Baekhyun being eyed, but knew they just had yet to see him before other than his letters or whatever Kyungsoo and Luhan have been saying. 

“Of course,” Chanyeol murmured, turning to remove his backpack and jacket into the corner of the room before turning to help Baekhyun remove his. “Just have a few things to _discuss,”_ He added, nodding towards Jongin.

Jongin was very sweet, but also awfully nosy and this wasn’t exactly something they wanted to share at the moment.

“Jongin, go help the others prepare dinner, please.” Junmyeon commented.

“But.. But Chan-“

“Save us spots and we’ll see you for dinner,” Chanyeol promised, sending him a smile, “Baekhyun will be close with you and you can share stories later, Nini.” 

Jongin looked reluctant, but with a sigh turned to walk through the door grumbling.

“Aren’t you cute..” Yixing smiled kindly at Baekhyun, walking over to lock the doors and pull the curtains, “Are you guys injured?”

Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun just to make sure he was sure, unzipping his coat and swallowing hard, “Yixing, this is Baekhyun. We actually.. well..”

“I need your help.” Baekhyun whispered, eyes dull and sad as he turned around to face the other, “I.. Chanyeol and I.. we’re lovers and I…” 

Chanyeol felt horrible to not have anything to add, but this was Baekhyun’s choice, not his, and he walked across the room to take a seat beside Junmyeon who raised a brow at him at the information being provided.

“.. I was sold as a _prostitute,_ and I want to make sure I won’t.. get him sick..and I’ve never been to a doctor.. and I’m really sorry, I know it’s-“

“Oh, sweet thing, come.” Yixing cooed, grabbing Baekhyun’s wrist gently and pulling him towards a cot, “It’s _not_ an issue, we’ve had many come here for tests, it’s nothing to be scared of.” 

“Told you, baby, everything is _fine.”_ Chanyeol assured as Yixing went to gather a few things, “I’ll come over there in just a minute.” 

“Can.. can the curtain stay open?” Baekhyun asked softly as he was told to lay down.

“I won’t look,” Junmyeon promised, turning his back towards the other, “But I’m curious about your position. Chanyeol said you were sold to him in a.. an awfully disturbing circumstance.” 

Chanyeol sighed and stood up to walk towards Baekhyun when he saw Yixing whispering for him to change into a gown. 

“He will be a lot of help, Jun,” Chanyeol said, petting Baekhyun’s hair from his face to ease his nerves as Yixing pulled a curtain around the two of them for the smaller to change, Chanyeol's head still popped over the blue screen. “Perhaps.. he can send messages, Baekhyun has a way of speaking that can persuade others.” 

“And he feels comfortable doing so? Telling such a sad story to strangers?”

“The good thing about radios, is that they don’t show a face,” Chanyeol murmured, leaning down to tie the strings of the gown on Baekhyun’s back, “We’ve discussed it. Baekhyun wants to help, and he’s been through a lot. _Recovery by talking,_ isn’t that something Yixing always tells Zitao?”

“I do,” The doctor answered across the room.

“I think.. I want to talk,” Baekhyun whispered softly, laying back down and holding Chanyeol's hand to his chest as he looked up at the man, “Strangers… haven’t been kind to me, but Chanyeol was a stranger once too, Sehun told me Generals were good and I guess I was naive, but he had been _right.”_

“Sehun, huh?” Junmyeon mused, “He's known to sneak out, currently he’s grounded, but I’m sure we can let you in to see him if you’d like.” 

“He..” Baekhyun scrunched his nose in thought, “He came to me once and gave me soup and said Generals were good. But he’s _wrong_ and _right,_ because Chanyeol is good, but he’s no General. He's not from the kingdom and never was. I don’t think such a man can be called something so horrible.” 

Chanyeol never felt offended to be called General before in his life, but in that context he had no problem considering such a title atrocious.

Because Baekhyun was _right,_ and he had never been a kingdom man, but a peasant.

“I think you’ll do wonderful things here, Baekhyun.” Junmyeon said simply, climbing to his feet and walking towards the door, “Let me know when he’s ready to send out a message, perhaps a story to capture attention?” 

“Love stories are always capturing, correct?” Chanyeol joked, fingers combing brown locks from the smallers face.

Surprisingly, Junmyeon hummed, “They always are. Let’s see if they work this time around.” 

Chanyeol grinned and watched the door rattle shut before kneeling down to peck Baekhyun’s lips, hand smoothing over his chest through the thin gown, “Hear that? You love stories.” 

“I do when they’re true,” Baekhyun beamed and surged up for another kiss.


	54. Found (ABO/Feral)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wolves are no longer roaming, they settle and build homes, learn. 
> 
> Baekhyun never had the chance.

  
Today wasn’t what Chanyeol expected.

First of all, in the middle of a war was _not_ where he thought he’d find his mate, much less his mate be _in_ the chaos.

Secondly, his plans for today should have been boarding up a hole in his roof, not tasting iron on his teeth.

And finally, he must be seeing things because _surely_ that wasn’t his mate that was all thin and whining, soft grey ears pressing onto his skull standing in the middle of a _field_ of blood.

Today, he hadn’t expected a lot of things it seems, because an attack from rogues wasn’t what they expected, much less an entire pack of them.

Perhaps the roamers had finally decided to settle down, that they wanted a place to live.

It didn’t matter when this was _their_ home. The huts were theirs, the food was theirs, anything in the area was _theirs._

They were a friendly pack, if others wished to come through then they were welcome to, but they weren’t welcome to invade their homes.

So they had to go at the first howl and beta that ran in with a rope of bones around his neck and bit one of their teenagers.

It had been an all out war.

_Tell me that’s not my mate that was soaked in others blood and looking around in fear._

“Chanyeol!” He heard someone barking behind him and within a second he was turning to snap warning teeth at Sehun's ankles, a warning as he turned his back to the omega protectively. 

“Woah!” The young alpha raised his blood stained palms up at the huge black haired wolf, taking a step back, “What are you-“

_“He’s mine! Mine, don’t touch!”_

It was all instinct, because he _knew_ Sehun wouldn’t hurt the omega, but the field they used to train pups and younger wolves was soaked in blood and _bloodlust_ was real for animals like them.

This was no game.

“What in the world…” He watched Sehun's eyes shoot over to what he was slowly backing up towards and widened, “They brought an omega to a fight!” He yelled.

Chanyeol’s hind leg was kind of sore, maybe a bite he’d taken, but it didn’t stop him from shifting and standing up to run the short distance to the omega. 

This close he could see a collar on him, well, it was likely a traditional necklace, but in his eyes he saw it as a _collar_ and nothing more.

“Omega.” He addressed and felt he’d gone high on the scent of cinnamon cutting through the stale scent of blood.

The omega looked at him instantly, and Chanyeol _shouldn’t_ be surprised, but he was at how quickly the grey wolf was dropping down to his chest and releasing whimpers.

He could probably smell they were mates. 

That was Chanyeol's only reasoning.

“Hi, hello..” He breathed out, relieved, as he dropped to his knees naked in the filth, his left leg was beside a body, but he had much more important things to care about. 

At least the little wolf didn’t seem to be afraid of him being from a different pack.

That, or he didn’t _understand._

In fact, the wolf looked much too vulnerable to be understanding the situation, padding closer on his paws to nose at his knee with a whine.

“Hello, aren’t you so sweet?” He whispered, raking fingers through the omegas matted fur, “Are you afraid?” 

His fingers brushed the necklace, taking the chance to remove the long string while he could, the metal at the end clanked with the beads on it and he found himself frowning.

“Baekhyun? Is that your name?” 

The omega lifted an ear up, his tail wagging back and forth slowly.

Chanyeol grinned, “Baekhyun, huh? How beautiful, what a beautiful name.” 

Baekhyun released a quiet yipping noise and before Chanyeol knew it the wolf was climbing into his lap, nails scratching at his thighs, but the alpha didn’t have it in him to care for much more than the omega was _very_ happy to hear his name.

“Sweet thing. So sweet,” He praised, wrapping his arms around the wolf and lifting him up, he was much lighter than should be and it led him to wonder if _that_ was why they wanted to attack.

Perhaps their food had gotten low.

“Alphas going to take you home now, okay?” 

Chanyeol was a bit confused _why_ the wolf hadn’t shifted forms yet, he should be speaking, excited to finally have a mate, or maybe crying with joy.

Baekhyun just seemed rather happy if the licks to his jaw and the tail wagging said anything.

He didn’t even seem to care who Chanyeol _was,_ that he had just killed a bunch of his pack, that he was being taken away.

He just looked like he cared a whole lot for praise and pets.

“Won’t you switch for me? I’d like to see how pretty you are,” Chanyeol mused, ignoring his pack members who looked at him extremely confused.

He _was_ bringing in a random omega after all.

Baekhyun made a quiet barking noise, laying his jaw into Chanyeol's shoulder, it seemed like a laugh, but led the alpha to wonder if he was even paying attention to him.

“I guess I will see your human form later then,” Chanyeol laughed, setting Baekhyun onto the woven mat by the door of his home, a cottage built by hand, “I’ll start the bath while you get used to my scent.” 

Intending on doing as he said, he moved to the huge wooden tub, adding plenty of herbs in for the both of them as he too was grimy and blood coated.

But within the second he had a little wolf whimpering and nosing under his arm to try to get into his lap, scratching at the floor with wide eyes.

 _Cute,_ Baekhyun must be a sweet little thing to be so needy for attention, or perhaps just younger than he’d thought _._

“You love attention, huh?” He asked softly as Baekhyun rubbed against his side, “You’re very cute you know.” 

Baekhyun smiled a wolfy grin, his canines all on show and it looked _ridiculous,_ but Chanyeol found himself fond of the sight, scratching his limp ears and feeling the water temperature.

“Won’t you change now, Baekhyun? Alpha would like to hear your voice, little berry.” 

Instead of listening, he got a confused noise before the grey wolf was tilting his head back and forth, ear twitching slightly on his head.

Chanyeol frowned and turned to face him fully, “Change. Like alpha, in this form so we can talk.” 

Baekhyun leaned forward and bumped his nose onto Chanyeol's before making the same confused noise.

The alpha raised a brow, because certainly Baekhyun knew what he was talking about.

It wasn’t as if he was _fera-_

Chanyeol gawked probably unattractively, standing up quickly, “Follow me, sweetness, let’s take you to my Chief to shift, okay?”

Baekhyun chirped a squeal like noise, and _now_ Chanyeol was certain the omega had no idea what he was talking about.

But he _would._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because there’s very few stories left, or they are super short, I decided to post the first chs


	55. Try (ABO/Feral)

“Very pretty. Pretty, pretty.” Chanyeol grinned.

Baekhyun  _ was  _ very beautiful, even if he couldn’t quite walk on two legs or speak, he was gorgeous.

And he was  _ very  _ good. 

It didn’t even take Junmyeon two tries to make the omega switch, but when it happened Baekhyun had flopped onto his bottom to stare at his hands confused and whimpered.

_ So confused,  _ poor thing.

He understood them, so Chanyeol supposed it was more than they could ask for from an omega that was originally feral.

The only other member of their pack who’d ever been so animalistic when they’d found him was Zitao, and the beta was more than fine now, so Chanyeol had very high hopes.

Even  _ if  _ Baekhyun still kept licking him and trying to crawl around.

He was a curious omega, maybe more so about his new hands than anything because right now Baekhyun was pushing water from the tub  _ all  _ over the floor as he floated the bowl of bathing herbs around.

That was fine. Chanyeol would pick new ones.

Baekhyun’s hair was all matted down to his skin from the water, button nose slightly red because the omega wanted to stay in here a very long time while Chanyeol was ready to get out at any moment.

“Pretty omega, look here.” He requested.

Baekhyun squealed a noise at the compliment, smiling widely and somewhat goofily as he hadn’t figured out a relaxing way for his jaw to sit and it was obvious in his teeth overlapping his bottom lip adorably. 

He lifted up the bowl and smacked it into the water before laughing with his nose scrunched and looking at Chanyeol as if he should be worlds amazed.

“Oh! How smart, smart boy, look here please,” Chanyeol cooed, tapping his chin and taking the opportunity to wipe his fingers over the soft skin of Baekhyun’s face.

Baekhyun made a quiet hum before making such a loud squeal it hurt Chanyeol's ears, crawling through the water to flop onto the alphas chest and whining for pets.

“Are you tired now? Alpha is very tired too,” He whispered, petting over the bare skin of Baekhyun’s spine, fingers stopping over each bony knob he could feel. “My precious omega, you’re very vulnerable, aren’t you?” 

In reply, Baekhyun released a heavy breath before scratching at his throat with a whine. 

Chanyeol snatched the fingers away because he hadn’t had a chance to trim them yet and he was worried about the damage Baekhyun could do with them.

He no longer had a layer of fur anymore and he was worried the omega didn’t understand that. 

“Stay in the tub while I get out please.” The alpha requested, sitting up to climb out.

The omega made a small grunting noise that sounded like disapproval, but when Chanyeol turned around Baekhyun was simply laying down in the water with only his forehead and eyes peering over the edge.

In such a position Chanyeol would have thought it was him readying to attack prey - if only the omegas bottom wasn’t sticking out and if he didn’t have such cute brown eyes. 

He chuckled, snatching a fur from his bedding and coming towards the tub.

Baekhyun squeaked a happier noise then, sitting back with his arms up and a pretty grin.

Chanyeol was  _ ruined. _

He knew it was going to be a long, long time for them to teach Baekhyun things, but if the omega was this sweet he didn’t mind at all.

“These are called arms, do you know that?” Chanyeol wondered as he sat Baekhyun into their bed, drying his hair carefully as he was worried about the omega being sick. He lifted Baekhyun’s arm carefully,  _ “Arm.”  _

“Ahm!” 

“Yay, you’re so smart,” He cooed, pressing a kiss to the pink button nose, “My smart smart boy. Let’s see.. I am  _ Chanyeol,  _ you are  _ Baekhyun,  _ I’m Chanyeol, can you say that?” 

Baekhyun flailed his hands back and forth and squealed something the alpha couldn’t understand for even a syllable, but it was nice he wanted to learn because Chanyeol had so many things to ask him.

“Let’s start easy then,” He mused, turning to spread blankets out when the omega curiosity latched a hand around his wrist with an excited noise.

Chanyeol smiled and kissed the shell of his ear too, just because he  _ could. _

“This.. means  _ yes,”  _ He nodded quickly, “And this means  _ no.”  _ He shook his head once before pulling Baekhyun under covers, “Now you try.” 

Baekhyun pouted his lips for a second, making grabby hands towards him when Chanyeol stood up and whimpering.

“No. Now Baekhyun tries,” Chanyeol soothed, petting a hand over his cheek and wandering around to set out clothes for the omega for tomorrow.

_ “Ye!” _

“Oh? You want to talk?” He beamed, tossing clothes onto a stool and looking at the omega, “Go ahead, alpha is listening, buttercup.” 

Baekhyun giggled and rolled onto his stomach, kicking his legs from the covers,  _ “Yesh! Yesh!”  _

Perhaps Chanyeol was just going  _ way  _ too easy on him, but he was jumping back into bed instantly to hug the omega who squealed and cooed his  _ yesh’s,  _ “So  _ smart!  _ You’re going to be so talkative in no time! My little berry, such a smart boy!” 

The omega was a squirmy little thing, but it was likely because he was set out for things and when he wanted them he wanted it now.

Baekhyun was calm as soon as he was getting kisses and his hair scratched, a small yawn falling from his mouth and he wiggled his hands around like one would do  _ paws  _ while kneading.

Chanyeol didn’t care how long it took, his mate was just very special.


	56. Good (ABO/Feral)

“Yesh, Yesh, Yesh! Yesh!” 

Chanyeol heard someone laugh and clenched his jaw, wrapping his hands around Baekhyun’s to help him along, “Sweet omega, you’re doing  _ so well!”  _ He crooned, squeezing his fingers.

Baekhyun giggled as his bare feet hit the grass and give a small jump, if Chanyeol hadn’t been holding him up then the omega probably would have tumbled as his legs weren’t used to being the only muscles holding him straight up.

The alpha heard another group of laughter and was debating on if it was worth it to snap at the onlookers.

His mate wasn’t some  _ fucking  _ show, he was smart and learning fast. 

But apparently his  _ feralness  _ was funny to some, but not to Chanyeol.

It was cute sometimes, definitely, but it was no joke or game, it was serious and he wouldn’t continue to let Baekhyun think that being a wolf was all that he could do.

He wanted to be able to hear him, to know that Baekhyun  _ understood  _ things.

Because he did, he said  _ yes,  _ he said  _ no,  _ he listened so well, but Chanyeol wanted to verbally hear the reassurance.

“Okay, breakfast time, let’s eat outside today, hm?” 

The past week and a half Chanyeol had been bringing their food inside to watch the omega scarf it down with no hands because he’d expected such a reaction, so he’d taught him to use his hands more and slow down a bit simply because he didn’t want to embarrass the omega.

Because who knew if Baekhyun would be embarrassed eventually.

Right now he didn’t seem to give two fucks about more than snuggling under Chanyeol's tops and giggling to thoughts nobody knew but him.

That was equally as heart racing.

“He looks better,” Sehun commented as Chanyeol held Baekhyun’s arm and helped him over towards the logs.

“He’s very smart and learns quickly,” Chanyeol answered softly, taking a seat and pulling the omega into his lap.

Baekhyun chirped a puppy-like squeal of approval and nuzzled into his jaw as he curled up into a ball, fingers reaching down to hold his toes with a loud laugh at the little things. 

He was particularly fascinated by himself, and it had taken a good hour to even convince the omega to cover up because he thought himself nude so funny. 

“I’m sure, congratulations, Chanyeol.” 

Chanyeol smiled, turning to grab a bowl from the floor when he felt someone sitting beside him.

A  _ growl  _ ripped through the omega in his lap and people gasped while Chanyeol hurried to grab Baekhyun before the omega jumped from his arms.

“Woah!” Kyungsoo laughed, wide eyed, “Here, have it, have it!” He cried, giving the omega his chunk of meat.

Chanyeol sighed, scratching Baekhyun’s temple and giving the other an apologetic look, “Buttercup, you can’t just fight for food, okay? It’s  _ bad.  _ It’s not good. We don’t fight for food.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes dulled as he held the chunk of meat in his fingers, mouth flickering downward as he looked up at him, “No no?”

“No no, it’s bad. It’s mean. No no, Baekhyun.” 

The omega sniffled even though his eyes weren’t teary, taking a big breath and leaning over Chanyeol's arm with both hands out and the small piece of meat between them, “No no,” He whispered sadly, offering the meat back with sad eyes.

Chanyeol cooed at him and kissed his hair and knew perhaps it was a bad idea to bring Baekhyun out here with people so soon, but there was no other way for him to learn.

“That’s very nice of you, thank you,” Kyungsoo murmured, cautiously taking the meat back even though it was an omega, and a beta could overtake Baekhyun easily.

Chanyeol was just glad he hadn’t tried it, because it would have been sad to have to take down one of his good friends today.

“Will he bite if I welcome him?” The beta asked Chanyeol softly, eyes looking at him pitifully.

“No. He won’t bite you.”  _ At least I hope not. _

Baekhyun didn’t, he tucked his nose and mouth behind Chanyeol's collarbone confused as Kyungsoo leaned over to press his forehead into his hair for only a second, squeaking a surprised noise and sitting back to eye in between the alpha and beta.

“Traditions, do you know them?” Chanyeol asked softly, tugging his top over his pants more when Baekhyun made a noise of excitement.

The omega giggled, grabbing Chanyeol's face and sitting up to press his head into his hair.

Baekhyun had no idea it was just a small welcoming sign  _ welcome to the pack,  _ but Chanyeol just laughed and allowed him to breathe loudly into his hair because it was sweet and he wasn’t hurting anybody. 

“Ah, he’s cute. Let me know if you need help,” Kyungsoo said over his shoulder as he walked away.

“Alright, alright, little berry.” The alpha grinned and pulled Baekhyun away from his hair and was greeted by a wide pretty grin and eyes crinkled into small crescents.

_ “Gud?” _

“Very good, you’re very good, omega,” Chanyeol swooned, setting a bowl onto Baekhyun’s lap, “Eat up and then we can try walking some more, bunny.” 

Baekhyun was expressive at least, so Chanyeol never had to wonder what the omega felt, because he was getting a bunch of licks to his cheek and such an excited noise he heard someone say it was  _ too loud. _

Too bad, because Baekhyun liked to make noise, so they’d have to get used to it, he wasn’t doing anything bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just started writing a mafia-ish vibe dystopia-ish ABO story and cant even decide what to tag it as lmfao, but it’s V spicy 
> 
> Also, if you want a say in what stories are being posted first in the third book, go say which ones sound most interesting please! 😊 
> 
> (PS I’m still going to try and post daily even w the semester starting just as I did last semester)


	57. Go (ABO/Feral)

“You must be stupid, right?” 

“Yeah, why does he talk like that!” 

Baekhyun scrunched his nose up as he looked at the teenagers in front of him, tossing his rocks onto the grass and crossing his arms.

“Just look at him! He can barely walk yet he’s old, alpha Chanyeol must be so annoyed, it’s like teaching a puppy!” 

That was mean.

They knew he could understand them, right? 

He was not stupid, that was such a mean thing to say.

Maybe they just didn’t know he could understand them, he decided, moving to sit on his knees.

“Play?” He asked softly, pushing his pile of rocks over to them.

Baekhyun didn’t really want to share them, because Chanyeol was coming right back over when he was done and they were going to skip the rocks because his alpha said he would teach him.

But maybe he could make friends and they’d be nicer to him.

“Why does he talk like that?” One of the girls just stared at him with a confused look, elbowing the boy at her side, “Sounds like a baby.” 

“N-New..” Baekhyun mumbled, “New.. me..” 

He was the new omega, that’s what his alpha always told him, that’s what Junmyeon told him last night he said Baekhyun the new omega in our pack.

That meant he was one of them, right? 

Before this his pack didn’t go in these forms at all, they tugged at each other’s fur and ears and sometimes it hurt, but they had to stay together because that’s what was told to him.

Sometimes when they moved too fast Baekhyun’s body would hurt and sometimes they left him too far behind, but they didn’t call him mean names.

They just didn’t talk much at all.

“He’s stupid - you’re a stupid omega!” One of the boys yelled and Baekhyun startled when he kicked one of the rocks into the woods beside him.

Baekhyun was mad.

That was so rude and his alpha had collected all those rocks with him just a bit ago.

He wasn’t doing anything bad at all, he was just sitting here and waiting for Chanyeol to come back when his mate said Baekhyunnie, stay here and alpha will bring you a treat. 

He loved treats, he loved foods and snacks, but now he was mad because maybe Chanyeol would come back and not have enough.

Maybe these kids would take all his snacks and his stomach would be mad at him too.

Baekhyun growled under his breath and climbed to his feet as the group laughed, it didn’t sound very nice, because when his alpha laughed it sounded very nice but this didn’t.

“You - bad!” He yelled, fingers clenched at his sides, “Mean and go!” He cried, pointing away from him, “Go! Go! Go!”

“Woah- omega-“

“Go!” Baekhyun screamed, “Bad! Bad, no! You bad!” 

The group looked absolutely terrified at his yelling, but it likely had more so to do with the group of angry alphas running over.

“Baekhyun? Baek?” 

The omega squealed an angry noise and threw himself at Chanyeol, fingers scattering to climb into the alphas arms.

“What were you doing?” Junmyeon demanded over Baekhyun’s whimpering, “Were you guys terrorizing him? Taemin, didn’t you just get off of watch from when you bullied Kibum, do you want to be sent for runs again?” 

Meanwhile Chanyeol was instantly horrified at the tears trailing down Baekhyun’s face, he’d yet to see the omega cry at all because he was a cheery and sweet omega.

Kneeling down his fingers tried to brush the tears away as quick as they came but Baekhyun was blubbering and grumbling under his breath unintelligible words.

“Sweet thing,” Chanyeol soothed, “Sh, what happened? What happened, pretty? You can tell alpha. It’s okay, buttercup.” 

Baekhyun’s bottom lip trembled and he looked surprised at the wetness of his cheeks when he wiped his fingers on his face, turning his fingers around to show the wetness to Chanyeol with a wobbly chin.

“ ‘ _splain_..” He requested.

“They’re tears, crying, you know.. when you’re very sad,” The alpha sighed, grabbing Baekhyun’s fingers for his attention, “So tell alpha why you’re sad so he can fix it. You said bad, were they bad to you?” 

Baekhyun’s eyes looked absolutely dejected as he nodded his head, tears kissing the corner of his lips. “Mean very.” 

“Very mean?” Chanyeol clicked his tongue, grasping his chin softly, “What'd they say to be very mean, beautiful?” 

The omega shuffled on his toes, mouth bubbling with a soft cry, “No.. no sh.. sh.. shtupid! You my!”

“You called him stupid!” The Chief hissed behind them.

Chanyeol was now too pissed off to care as he pulled Baekhyun’s hips to his chest and hugged his waist. “I’m yours, I’m yours, berry. You’re not stupid. You’re just a bit different right now, but not stupid.” 

“N-No good!” 

“That’s not good!” Junmyeon yelled, “You guys don’t think he’s scared enough already? He’s new, he can’t speak well, he only wants friends!” 

“Come on, come here,” Chanyeol whispered, sweeping the omega up onto his front where Baekhyun could cry into his neck before he turned to the children with a hiss, “You ever speak to him like that again then you can count on _me_ coming to you since you want to be tough! You never speak to others like that, all of you should run perimeter for a week and come up with a proper apology! He knows what you're saying, and you’re cruel to call him such things, nobody here calls each other that and suddenly you wish to ridicule another? We do not _play_ those games!” 

“ _Two_ weeks,” The Chief growled, grabbing one of the girls by the wrist, “Now. And I’m going to watch, start running.” 

Chanyeol couldn't even find it in him to feel any better when the four teenagers looked teary, he knew they were just kids and they shouldn’t be so harsh, but it wasn’t okay. 

Baekhyun was afraid and he was already having a hard time, it was obvious to any of the adults that the omega was having a hard time because he practiced so much and ever since he found his legs he’d been scattering around to meet people with bright smiles and a point to his chest, _I Baekhyun!_

He just wanted to fit in, and that wasn’t fair of the children to ridicule him when he tried so hard.

“Okay, sweet omega, I think you’ve had enough of an adventure today, let’s snuggle, hm?” He cooed, petting down Baekhyun’s spine.

Baekhyun grunted a noise of disapproval, sitting back with fingers twiddling the alphas shirt between his fingers, his face streaked with drying tears and his nose rubbed red. “Wocks.” 

“Rocks?” Chanyeol mumbled before shaking his head and laughing under his breath as he pet Baekhyun’s hair, “You want to play with rocks still?” 

The omega nodded his head, chin to his chest as he gave puppy eyes and pouted his chewed up lips. 

“Who am I to tell you no, hm?” The alpha teased, pressing a soft kiss to his pout and a second to the tip of his nose as he knelt down to set his feet back onto the grass, “You want me to teach you? Let’s skip rocks, little one.” 

“Yes pease.” 

“Ah! So polite, who taught you that, munchkin?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My power has been out ALL this morning ugh finally I get to post!
> 
> Also, I’m V impatient about everyone to read my newest ChanBaek ABO aristocrat one oomph like its V spicy and adorable I want to write more for it but can’t think of ideas Rn!!!


	58. Praise (ABO/Feral)

Chanyeol wasn’t entirely sure if Baekhyun knew he could hear him, but his omega had been very cute when he thought he was asleep.

What a ridiculous thought because how could he sleep with warm breath beside him being much louder than the omega likely knew.

_“Baekhyun.. Baekhyun, Baekhyun..”_

He sounded almost perfect, although new words and long sentences were tough for Baekhyun, he was doing so well Chanyeol could almost cry.

_“Sayed.. say… said - no, yes, no, yes!”_

Baekhyun was being awfully loud, it would be ridiculous if the omega truly thought he was sleeping soundly beside him, but he knew his mate was a bit oblivious sometimes and that was perfectly okay.

More than okay.

_“Bubbb.. bubble bubble.. fiss.. fisss… fisH..”_

Chanyeol rolled onto his side, to watch Baekhyun’s back as the omega fiddled with a string of beads mid rant, his mates toes rubbing against the fur and naked body exposed although the alpha always tucked him in tightly.

Baekhyun was a bit of a wild one though and didn’t like to listen every once in a while.

_“C.. Chanloel.. Chan.. Alpa.. Alpha, Baekhyun- Baekhyun and alpha…”_

Truthfully, the alpha could watch Baekhyun mumble forever, because he _knew_ the words, but things were much different when thinking and having to physically make yourself say it.

Sometimes they sounded so odd he had no idea what Baekhyun was taking about, sometimes sentences were so jumbled he just pretended to understand because his mate had a really pretty and hopeful smile.

So he was always praised, but it was tough.

Baekhyun would get through it.

Chanyeol moved closer to kiss his spine, splaying a large palm across his stomach and closing his eyes for only a second to listen to the happy giggles he got for being “awake.” 

“Alpha morning time!” 

“Morning, buttercup,” He muffled into Baekhyun’s back, peppering a few kisses along his nakedness, “What do you have there, Baekhyun?”

“Sring!”

“String, huh?” Chanyeol corrected softly, pressing his chin into Baekhyun’s shoulder and reaching over to grab the omegas wrist and playfully nibble at his hand under the guise of seeing the beads.

Baekhyun laughed excitedly and dropped the items without care as he rolled over to face him, pressing his nose to Chanyeol's with a cute grin and pretty eyes, “Kiss?” 

“Ugh, so _needy,”_ He cried playfully, cupping behind his head to kiss his mouth, “Needy needy boy.” 

“Need!” The omega mimicked smily, grabby fingers finding Chanyeol's face and squishing between his hands, “Kiss kiss!” He chirped, licking his jaw and nuzzling into his face.

“Yes, all the kisses for you, sweet omega,” Chanyeol crooned easily, pulling him on top of him and running warm hands all the way down his spine and bottom, Baekhyun’s body was a bit cold, and he wondered if the omega purposely liked to be testy because it got him cuddled.

“Mhm.” Baekhyun hummed surely, pointing at his face and Chanyeol snorted but pecked the spot again since his omega _demanded_ it.

“Talk to alpha while I make us breakfast,” Chanyeol requested, standing up abruptly and dumping Baekhyun into their bed.

Baekhyun squealed a loud giggle as he bounced on the covers, trailing a moment behind and dragging the blanket with him, woddling along with his face peeking through until he could flop down onto the rug near the fireplace.

“Alpha play.. sring me?” 

“Alpha will play with strings with you, buttercup. After breakfast we can string some more shells if you want.” 

“Want.” 

“Then you will _get,”_ Chanyeol smiled to himself, peeking around at the sound of rolling items to find Baekhyun dumping out his pile of rocks and shells and wooden beads.

His collection, although the omega just said _sring tings!_

Close enough, and much cuter, so Chanyeol had nothing to correct.

“Ummm… you put _dis_ one, I do p-prurp…” Baekhyun sighed and Chanyeol heard the sound of a bead go bouncing across the mats and also sighed.

“Hey,” He soothed, bringing over a bowl of washed fruit over, setting it on the table and watching Baekhyun’s frustrated face and crossed arms. “Let’s try again without throwing stuff.” He urged.

“No good.”

“Yes good, my Baekhyunnie is very good.” Chanyeol said firmly, sitting down and opening his arms, “Come to alpha.” 

Baekhyun went crawling through his collection and he knew it would be a pain to find all those little beads and items that went rolling around. 

It was okay because he and the omega could hunt for them later, hopefully with many words for Baekhyun to say.

“I still love you even if it’s hard sometimes. I know you want to be good quickly but it takes time. Everyone loves you, little berry, so don’t lose your head, okay?” Chanyeol whispered, pinching Baekhyun’s ear lobe gently.

The omega pouted his lips and covered his ear, “My head!” 

Chanyeol snorted and reached beneath Baekhyun’s knees to snuggle him in a little bundle, “A very pretty head. Very smart, oh so cute, my mate.” 

“Yep. More pease.” 

They’d be here for a long time if Chanyeol gave him all the compliments he could think of, but Baekhyun was always excited for praise, and he had _more_ than enough to give.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello,,,,, if anyone of you guys are not busy, I would love to get feedback on one of my most recent drabbles, I want to add something but I can’t figure out what! I feel like it’s missing something! If one of you isn’t busy I can email it and see what you think? My online friend is V busy lately and I feel bad asking!


	59. Chase (ABO/Feral)

“Swim!”

“Are we swimming?” Chanyeol laughed, kicking his feet in the water while watching Baekhyun paddle around in the pond.

It wasn’t deep enough for the omega to get seriously hurt, but he was still adamant on doing little things like this altogether even though Baekhyun was being more and more talkative and social these days.

“Swimming, alpha!” 

Chanyeol grinned, playfully reaching down to flick water at the omega earning a pouty face and a whine as Baekhyun turned himself to paddle the other way.

“Grumpy,” He teased.

“Not grump!” Baekhyun cried, grabbing at a cattail on the edge of the bank before kicking his legs behind him as fast as he could.

The alpha was already smiling wide by the time Baekhyun came over, body a little red from the cold water as he clutched his calf and curled his body around him.

Baekhyun shoved the cattail in his face making Chanyeol take it before he hummed happily and hugged his leg with his chin on his knee.

“You want to keep it? For what, sweetness?”

“Chan necklace make.” 

“Making Chanyeol a necklace? How nice,” Chanyeol cooed, brushing his wet locks off his forehead, “Sweet boy. Love you.” 

“Love you!” Baekhyun giggled, and one of the alphas favorite things was that when the omega was  _ really  _ happy he still made that cheesy, teeth in his bottom lip, smile that was more than endearing.

In fact, it was such an adorable sight that Chanyeol was happy to be the only person that got to see it.

Baekhyun was just giggling to himself, smacking at a few leaves in the water and completely oblivious to the alphas internal screams of adoration. 

It was probably best Baekhyun didn’t know exactly how adorable he was or else he’d be walking all over him with just a grin, and Baekhyun was already a wild little thing and didn’t like to be told to do things.

It wasn’t something Chanyeol wanted to change about him though, even if he knew some of his pack thought it was “disrespectful” for Baekhyun to not submit to him really at all.

Little did they know the alpha never disagreed with Baekhyun or felt the  _ need _ to have him submit, there was no need to change someone that was already perfect - albeit with a few scratching and biting incidents.

“Can… give love to alpha?” Baekhyun asked, tilting his head back and forth and looking unsure if he’d said things correctly.

Chanyeol nearly grabbed his chest because his mate was just  _ that  _ adorable and he was proud, leaning down to pull the naked omega from the water and into his lap, “That sounds  _ so  _ good, buttercup. So proud of you!” He cooed, hugging tight around Baekhyun’s waist.

The omega squealed a sentence that vaguely sounded the same as before, only high pitched and as fast as his mouth could move, fingers planting themselves into the alphas hair with a cheesy grin. 

“You give alpha so much love,” Chanyeol added, laughing as Baekhyun snuggled into his neck with a purr like squeak. 

“More loves!”

Chanyeol laughed and wrapped his arms loosely around Baekhyun’s spine to kiss his cold, wet shoulder, soothing warm palms down his back to the light layer of fat he had gained on his hips, no longer all skin and bones. “Are you so touchy today? You’re naughty, want to claim alpha outside? Tsk, you’re naughty, buttercup.” 

In response Baekhyun sat back to give a huge, wide smile, showing off the pearly shine of his teeth before leaning over to sink said teeth into the muscle above his collarbone.

The alpha barely released a hiss at the pain, nails scratching softly at Baekhyun’s scalp as the omega lapped at the fresh bite he'd given.

Chanyeol groaned, feeling himself hardening because his mate was  _ animalistic  _ in his affection, and there was no better time to mate than when Baekhyun was so aggressive. 

As usual, whatever the omega wanted he  _ always  _ got, because he made Chanyeol weak, and public matings weren’t unusual, but this early in the morning would likely be an odd time for him to get caught with his knot within the omega while Baekhyun bit him red.

Others would find such a sight as Chanyeol being a pushover, allowing an omega to bite and claim him like that while Baekhyun was likely to only get a few bites and pink marks.

Because his omega liked to be possessive, and the alpha didn’t necessarily feel the need to turn Baekhyun’s golden skin black and blue with claims in order to say they were each other’s,

“Alpha, outside love, yes?” 

Chanyeol laughed and cupped the back of Baekhyun’s fluffy, soaked hair to nip at the tip of his nose, growling playfully as he pushed the omega off his lap gently. 

Baekhyun looked at him confused, wide eyes pouting as he looked up at him from the grass when the alpha stood up, smaller form wet in a patch of sunlight and looking absolutely  _ ravishing. _

“One..” 

Chanyeol grinned and pet the omegas cheek, “Two..” 

Still confused, the omega tilted his head back and forth, lip poking out.

“Three. Little one, I’m going to find you so  _ easily  _ at this point…” He tsked, tweaking Baekhyun’s nose.

The omega gasped before looking up at him with excited eyes, fingers curling into the grass,  _ “Chasing? More fun!” _

Chanyeol snickered,  _ “Four..”  _

Baekhyun released a loud squeal that was sure to have woken a few members, stumbling to his feet with a bunch of giggles and turning to take off towards the line of trees towards the meadow, doing a horrible job of trying to hide when his laughter carried for miles. 

“Five!” 

It wasn’t like he would get far anyways, but at least the chase was fun, and the reward was even more so. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It made me so happy to see all of you saying you could help look it over! I want to send to more because unfortunately, there weren’t many ideas others had which is fine! I just want to add more bc I love the AU! 
> 
> But I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, hopefully we will be on the third book and updating it soon because it has so many good ones!


	60. Home (Soulmate)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who said that homes creaking was normal? Maybe you have a demon giggling in your bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I decided I had to do something with the haunted house story, better than just letting parts of it rot!

  
Buying a new house was always hard. Looking, thinking, and rejecting was exhausting.

So, when Baekhyun drove by a house with a for sale sign that was withering away, looking as if it had been for a while, well, he was extremely happy to call the number.

The house itself looked quite old, maybe even hundreds of years old, but he couldn’t help but to pull over as he called the number, just outside the house onto the curb.

Sitting in his car, he could feel something with the house, some sort of calling almost, but he figured maybe it was his attraction to the house that was calling him to it so much. It was a beautiful home, a deep brown, red double door, it must be expensive.

“- realtor, how can I help you?”He jumped a bit, having forgotten he was even on the phone in the first place. “Oh, yes, I’m calling about the home for sale on Feather River Boulevard. I was wondering what the asking price was.”

The woman on the phone was deathly silent, so quiet Baekhyun pulled the phone from his ear to look at it curiously. It still said she was connected.“Um, excuse me, are you still there?”He heard her clear her throat and recognized her tone as surprised. “Of course, of course, I’m sorry I must have drank some water down the wrong pipe.” She laughed a bit awkwardly.

Baekhyun chose not to point out that he hadn’t heard any other noises except her shocking silence. “Oh, I hope you are okay.” He said genuinely, although he didn’t believe her for one second.

“No issues here, sweetie, anyways, did I hear correctly that you were inquiring about the home on Feather River Boulevard?”

Baekhyun hummed a quiet confirmation, sparing a glance at the home, wanting to get closer, to see inside. It really was a gorgeous looking home from the outside.

“Well.” The woman began, “If you want, I can swing by and give you a grand tour, tell you all the bits and details.”

He felt a bit shocked at her offer but couldn’t help his immediate agreement, “That would be fantastic, I can be here at around 6 pm tomorrow? Is that too late?”

“No, that’s perfect, my name is Lee Sharon, and yours?”

“Byun Baekhyun, I guess I will see you tomorrow evening?” She laughed into the receiver, “I will see you tomorrow at 6 pm sharp, sweetie.”

He felt a bit of weight fall off his shoulders as he hung up. Usually it was so difficult to schedule appropriate times for home tours, the hours conflicting with his new job or just too far out for it to be plausible.

Truthfully, he needed a place soon. The three hour commute from his old apartment to his new job was putting a hole in his finances, the money he had saved for years for his own home, it wasn’t worth it to continue driving so far until the school year actually started.

Baekhyun had accepted to teach summer courses for the children who were a bit behind, but he was so glad today was the final day at the daycare so he had three months until the school year would begin officially. He couldn’t wait to teach high schoolers, although he knew how rambunctious they could be, especially since he was a young teacher.

Those months were still paid, the perks of working for school districts, he mused, they usually had paid breaks during the year because salaries were set.It’s not like it was a lot of money anyways, but it was enough to get by and live a decent life.His night suddenly seemed a lot brighter, but he had a new issue now.

Baekhyun didn’t want to drive away from the house at all.

~~~~~~~

“Xing.” Baekhyun sighed into the phone that was connected to his car speaker as he drove, “I know that you wanted to come, but I am a grown man, and I can make my own choices!” He chided playfully.

Baekhyun heard him grumble at that and could picture the pout on his face. “Baekhyun, I am looking out for you!”He rolled his eyes at his tone, “Xing, you don’t even live in this town and you had to work.” He pointed out with a playful scold.

“I would have skipped for you!”

“We aren’t in school anymore, Xing, you can’t just skip work.” He giggled to himself at his best friend's tone.

“Can too!” He argued immediately. “Don’t tell me what to do Baekhyun!”Baekhyun snorted and shook his head as he turned down the street towards the familiar house. “I’m hanging up on you now.”

“Baekhyun…” He warned. 

“Bye bye, Xing! Love you!”

“Baekhyun, you better call me later or else I’ll-“ he snorted as he hit the red button on his phone before pulling up to the side of the curb. It only took ten seconds for him to notice the messages flooding in with various threats, empty ones, of course.

Baekhyun stepped out of his car with a laugh, putting a polite smile on his face as he noticed the car parked in the driveway, a realtor company logo on the side.

A woman stepped out of the car, a bit older than him but not too much older. “Are you Baekhyun? You must be.” She said with a cheerful smile as she accepted his hand with both of hers, giving a slight bow.

Baekhyun smiled at her politeness and nodded, “I hope you weren’t waiting long, I was hoping to beat you here.”

She laughed and shook her head, “No, of course not, I had to let some cleaners in this morning to make sure the home wasn’t completely messed up when I had it opened for you.”

He laughed at her words, but felt like she was completely serious, wondered why she would think an untouched house would be messed up.

Maybe she meant dust and dirt settling, but that also brought up the subject that it would mean the house was rather unopened for a while- still suspicious, but Baekhyun overlooked it.

“Anyways.” She added, walking towards the door, “It is quite an old home, so it does have a bit of a fixer upper type of things.” She said truthfully, unlocking the door.

Baekhyun tuned her out pretty well as he stepped inside. He couldn’t even hear her any longer, only following her inside dazily.

It was gorgeous on the inside too. The dark hardwood was shining, sparkling. He registered her mentioning that it was recently added, and nodded vaguely. The walls were a tannish cream color and he tilted his head at the furniture still inside the home, older style furniture, but it still seemed to make the home look classic- like from an older movie.

“Is the furniture included?” Baekhyun wondered, pointing at the deep red, long lounge sets, wooden borders on them that looked absolutely breathtaking. The furniture alone was probably worth his apartment, it was a wonder the company hadn’t sold it.

Sharon tilted her head at his interruption before nodded with a slightly surprised look, “Oh, yes, everything is included, the furniture, the books- anything that the owner wishes to keep.” 

Baekhyun smiled at that and reached towards the bookshelf, his finger over the spine of a book before turning his attention back towards her. 

“Would you like to see the kitchen? The appliances have been upgraded.” She nodded towards a sliding door.

He had always thought the regal beauty of enclosed kitchens were nice, he could go in and out, have alone time even if people were here. It was enchanting.

His expectations for the kitchen based on the living room weren’t let down. The walls were a yellow brick, cabinets a dark oak and the marble a whitish yellow marble, it was huge, and open.

“The wiring sometimes goes a little bonkers in here, it’s just one of the few fixer things that the company hasn’t gotten around to looking at.” Sharon explained quietly, like she really didn’t want to tell Baekhyun anything bad and change his opinion.

“Wow.” He whispered, touching the bricked wall, it just felt so old, and he loved it. “What else is there to fix?” Baekhyun wondered.

She smiled tightly and motioned to the sink. “Sometimes the faucets will start leaking a bit- not a big issue, but just something to consider. Also, there is a tree overhanging in the backyard, but that can be dealt with by us, or any huge issues that arise.”

Baekhyun hummed in acknowledgment before spinning around to face her, “Next room?” He sounded like an excited child to his own ears and she laughed, so he figured to her he did also.

“Come along, I will show you the upstairs- that’s where all the good things are.” Baekhyun smiled and began climbing the carpeted stairs. A straight, wide set that went only about seven steps before entering the second floor. “So, there are three bedrooms, one of them is downstairs and a half bathroom, but they aren’t as nice as these ones.” She began, pulling open the first dark brown oak door. “Here is the master bedroom, an adjourning bathroom too.” 

Baekhyun bounced in excitement, trying to contain himself as he walked in. The room was glorious. Someone rich must have lived in this room at one point, and all the furniture was still left here- Baekhyun felt shocked. The black wardrobe overshadowed the room, an open doorway beside it, peeking inside he realized it was the closet.

He could hear Sharon muttering about something behind him, but he couldn’t stop himself from running a hand over the edge of the black bed frame- he’d never seen a bed so huge. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of movement and blinked curiously at the bathroom. Walking closer he swore he saw another shadow before he saw nothing, but as soon as he stepped into the bathroom he felt dazed again. 

Like a pain in his chest almost- some type of emotion he couldn’t explain- but it made him grab the edge of the black and white counters with a quiet pant. Before Baekhyun could say anything else the feeling was gone, and replaced with it was a calming hum- like a reassurance he didn’t know he wanted, or needed.

“This bathroom is gorgeous, right?” Sharon praised in the doorway, obviously not having the same panic Baekhyun had only a second before, “This one is my personal favorite of the two and a half baths.

Baekhyun huffed quietly, swearing he felt a brush of wind on his face, soft and almost unnoticeable. “Of course, it’s very nice.”

He honestly hadn’t given the bathroom much of a look over, taking her opinion as his own while she led him out of the room and into the next.“This spare room was originally a study, but I mean… it can be anything, it is big enough.” She explained softly, walking Baekhyun into the room.

He could tell it was a study, walking around the huge wooden desk he opened a drawer curiously, tilting his head at the papers with cursive writing still inside. The ink quill laid on top of a blank sheet of paper, dripping as if someone had been using it recently. Curious.

“What was it you said you did for a living?” Sharon asked, looking a bit odd as she pointedly crossed her arms and avoided touching anything, looking at Baekhyun worriedly as he ran childlike fingers over the old hanging light on the corner of the desk.

“I am a school teacher.” He answered, deciding not to mention he never told her in the first place. “I did daycare during the break, but I will begin high school classes in a few months.” Baekhyun added, looking straight ahead at the leather armchair and built in bookshelves filled with old looking novels and textbooks.

“This room would be perfect for grading exam periods then, what subject is it you teach?” She tried to upsell, not that she really needed to, he had been practically sold the second he glanced at the sign.

Baekhyun tinkered with a mini globe distractingly, “I have a degree in English and in Social Science- but the latter is not as useful when trying to teach.” He laughed lightly to himself.

He heard her hum interestingly before motioning towards the door, “Would you like to see the rest? There is another bathroom here and then we can go back down.” 

Baekhyun accepted, barely taking her words in as he touched the walls of the hallway. It was an old home- that was obvious- but he felt a feeling in his stomach telling him it was his.

At the same time Baekhyun realized it was unsettling, but he swore he felt more breezes and coldness as he ventured around than could be considered normal.

“What is this door?” Baekhyun wondered, pointing towards a locked door to the side of the back door when Sharon tried to show him the backyard.

“Oh.” She muttered, “That is just the basement, it is just storage, same as the attic, I wouldn’t worry about those places much- they’re just full of junk.”

Baekhyun raised a brow to himself at her dismissal. It was fast, too fast.

“So.” He whispered, leaning against the wall, “What was the asking price?”

“You’re interested?” She wondered, looking like an excited child. 

He tilted a curious head at her over-excitement. “Of course, it’s a beautiful home, I’ve always been a sucker for historical homes.”

“Well.” She smiled and reached into her purse, pulling out a paper. “This has all the pricing including fees deducted after the down payment, also our realtor company is willing to cover any repair costs the first year, and landscaping.”

His eyes widened at the number, looking up at her with a tight grip on the paper. “What’s wrong with the home?” Baekhyun kidded, still gawking at the low selling price, not expecting an answer.

With this kind of price he would be able to afford his basic living and more- better than even his apartment price that was slowly edging higher.

He heard her sheepish laugh and glanced up at her curiously.“Well, there were a few misfortunate incidents here.” She admitted to his surprise.

“Like?” Baekhyun asked curiously.

“A man five years ago, a murder suicide, killed himself and his wife. Said he was driven mad in his letters.” She sighed and rubbed her temple, looking at him with a sort of plea. “By law I was required to mention that anyways since it occurred so recently.”

He frowned at that and then shrugged. He never was a superstitious person, and he had been called to this house the moment he stared at the sign, so of course Baekhyun needed to accept- and the price was unbeatable.

“Where can I sign? I have my checkbook now.”


	61. Tomorrow (Soulmate)

Packing was a bit hard so last minute.

But Sharon had managed to get the papers together quickly, even having the house recleaned and inspected- although it was already spotless when he visited. 

“Baekhyun.” Yixing sighed as he carried a box to his car. “You’re moving too far from me, what happened to best friends forever?”

“Okay.” Baekhyun snorted, “First of all, how old are you, two? And secondly, I told you that you could visit whenever you wanted and I would come down after I get settled in.”

He turned around and crossed his arms cutely, “I’m five.” He stomped dramatically, “And it is still very far- for me an hour each way.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the man and threw his arms around his shoulders, letting him be dramatic in his hug. “It’s still closer for me, Xing, you know I have months before classes start, and every weekend I have free- come by as you want.”

Yixing huffed warm against his neck before pulling away and tapping his cheek. Baekhyun snorted and pressed a kiss to his cheek, patting his hip playfully as he separated.

“I will come by sometime this week then to help- expect me randomly!” He cried as Baekhyun opened his driver's seat door and tossed his bag inside.

“Yeah, yeah.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes, “Don’t you have my old furniture to be stealing or something.” He teased.

He stomped his foot and turned his nose up, “You offered you imbecile!”

Baekhyun snorted and climbed into his car, rolling the window down, “What a big word from your mouth, Xing!”

Yixing's mouth opened in offense as Baekhyun changed gears, “How rude! Now you’re just going to leave after hurting my feelings, fuck you!”

Baekhyun giggled and rolled his eyes at his dramatics, “I love you, see you soon.”

~~~~~~~

Carrying boxes inside by himself was a fucking pain. He was suddenly extremely glad he hadn’t many things in the first place.

It was mainly all clothing, kitchen supplies, and toiletries. As soon as Baekhyun had offered Yixing his choice of things he agreed immediately, like the hoarder he was slowly becoming, to take the rest of his things off his hands.

The man was a blessing, truly, but Baekhyun half wondered if his goal was to fight with him at every chance he got- it was so often he had grown used to it. Baekhyun was pretty sure he just liked to get coddled every once in a while, even though he was a grown ass man with his own home and career.

He rolled his eyes at the thought and heaved the last box into the kitchen, practically collapsing over the box for a moment, gathering his breath.

Deciding to take a break, Baekhyun rubbed his eyes as he walked upstairs for the nth time today, making the familiar walk to the main bedroom- narrowly tripping over the boxes by the door because he didn't realize he put it so close to the doorway.

Baekhyun flopped onto the bed with a sigh, turning onto his side, the comforter didn’t have that dewy, dusty scent as if unused, it smelled like a wine, old and rustic, he figured the staff must have cleaned them while they were here too.

He threw the back of his palm over his eyes and huffed quietly, exhausted and not wanting to move for at least a few hours. He felt a sudden breeze and jumped at the coldness, eyes widening.

Baekhyun felt momentary panic set in at the feeling, swearing it felt like a hand, or maybe a cool breath against his exposed shoulder. Then, he noticed the window open and growled out in frustration as he went to shut it.

“Fucking cleaners.” He grumbled, assuming they must have opened it for cleaning fumes and forgotten to close it.

Just as Baekhyun turned around he saw a shadow from the bathroom- much like the first time he had been here. But instead of following it, Baekhyun rubbed the corner of his eye and practically jumped onto the bed with a pout.

“I’ll deal with it tomorrow.” He mumbled to himself, not even sure what he was talking about. Either his mind playing tricks on him or the boxes- they were both plausible options.


	62. Insane (Soulmate)

Baekhyun knew he was a huge child at heart, and Yixing always whined about it but he had no room to talk.

Everyone liked a nice bowl of cereal for breakfast! 

Nothing like a huge bowl of sugar to brighten his morning.

And Baekhyun was no different, curling up on the regal couch with the bowl in his lap, staring at his tv he had set up between the bookshelves, it was the only real piece of furniture he had brought with him - the only one that fit inside his car with all the boxes anyways.

There were a few more things, Yixing texted this morning saying he would bring them up when he came up eventually, but they were mainly extra blankets and school plans- not stuff Baekhyun would need immediately like clothing and pots and pans.

At the reminder of the boxes of pots and pans left unopened he internally whined and scarfed down his cereal, climbing to his feet and placing the bowl with a bit of milk left onto the counter top as he began putting away his groceries he made sure to bring.

After deciding which cabinets would be what- Baekhyun got to work, and had most of them done when a can rolled off the counter making him stomp his foot like a child and bend down to grab it.

He wrapped his fingers around the soup can and huffed as he turned around and put it on the shelf.

A clanking sound had him stilling, listening in at the sound of metal on porcelain. His bowl, his empty bowl, Baekhyun realized.

Turning around with a heavy gulp, there was a man standing there, a hand twirling around his empty bowl with a small pout on his lips, towering form blocking the light partially.

Baekhyun screamed like a little girl, nearly slipping off the counter as he scattered to get away.

The man jumped just like he had only within a second his lips were curling into a huge grin and made Baekhyun even more afraid.

He was about to be murdered by a fucking psycho.

“You can see me?” The man cried, jumping in his spot and looking _ridiculous_ for someone so huge. “Can you see me? I’m not letting you! Oh my god, yes! _Finally!_ I’ve been here for fifty years and to _think_ I only had an old woman here! I knew my sou- hey!”

Baekhyun instantly was teetering forward, body going limp as he fainted, the other man rushing at the speed of light to catch his body and pick him up.

“That’s okay!” The man chirped, carrying Baekhyun into the other room, “You must be exhausted, I’ll put your things up for you!” 

Baekhyun was out for hours.

~~~~~~

When he’d finally awoken, Baekhyun sat up and thought he must have had an _insane_ dream. 

But the thought only lasted a second as he sat up and noticed empty boxes stacked nicely by the front door and piles of extra blankets on the floor - and the _man_ walking in from the kitchen holding a tub of ice cream with disgust on his face.

“You only have children’s food, that _has_ to change or you’ll get sick.” 

Baekhyun was torn between screaming again or passing out again, but his throat was sore and his head was hurting so he released a small screech and closed his eyes, hand coming to rest over his frantically beating chest.

“My cute human! You eat like a child, Baekhyun!” 

God, he _must_ be going insane because this puppy like man was suddenly plopping onto the couch with wide, googly eyes and Baekhyun hated that the first thought he had was _handsome_ even though this creep had snuck into his house.

“You…” He swallowed hard, “You need to get out before I call the police.” 

Instantly the other had a kicked puppy look, eyes wide and pouting, “But.. but this is my house..”

“What the _fuck..”_ Baekhyun whispered, because he felt terrible and hadn’t even done anything.

“My name! Oh, maybe that’s why you’re scared!” The man cried, jumping up and clearing his throat, putting his hand out towards Baekhyun, “My name is Park Chanyeol! I am a fire demon and you are now my human! Ta-da! Want to make food? I’m starving.” 

Baekhyun’s mouth fell agape because this man had to be crazy, he needed to get to the cops, but for some reason the thought made him feel many levels of guilt.

“You don’t believe me?” Chanyeol pouted his lip and huffed like a child, “Baekhyunnie, I’m here now, we’re supposed to be hugging and you’re supposed to be all _over me!_ Because that’s how the stories go, okay? You’re not following!” He accused.

The human couldn’t help the snort, “How old _are_ you?”

“Um…” Chanyeol turned and started messing with the television, only he _wasn’t_ holding the remote and Baekhyun wanted to pass out again watching the other tweak his nose and wave a finger to change stations, “.. been around since 1823, but I’ve only been here fifty years. My friend is a seer you see, and he prophesied that _you_ would be here to greet me! So hello, Baekhyunnie, you're very pretty.” 

Baekhyun’s mouth felt dry and he _must_ be going insane because there was no way a man child who had psychosis just called him pretty and was doing some _paranormal shit._

He wasn’t superstitious, but everything in him was drawing him towards the man as if he _should_ be listening.

That was insane, his horrible sleep schedule must be getting to him.

“Okay.. Chanyeol..” He whispered cautiously as he stood up, wiping his clammy palms onto his jeans, “.. I think I should sleep now..” 

The man was popping up instantly, a huge grin on his face, “Great! Let’s do that.” 

Baekhyun released a heavy breath as he tried to rationalize the situation, but it was impossible with big round eyes staring at him and when Chanyeol turned a light pink and said, “Wow, you’re so pretty,” again.

He must be a fucking idiot, because his first instinct was to _blush_ rather than start screaming at him for being fucking creepy.

That, or it was the fact Chanyeol tapped a light and it brightened up before a snapping sound came from it and then it exploded into black dust. 

Chanyeol shuffled with an embarrassed grin, “I think I miss lanterns these days.” 

Baekhyun laughed crazily, and _knew_ he had to be going insane when he heard a deep, embarrassed chuckle seconds later.


	63. Gems (Soulmate)

Having a six foot one demon on your tail was exhausting, but also not.

It was weird.

When days later Baekhyun had finally accepted the man a demon because he had locked him in a room and not even seconds later Chanyeol was giggling behind him with a: silly! I was in there! He had decided just to chill.

It was easier said than done and now a week and a half with the other on his tail was kind of fun because Chanyeol did anything he wanted him to.

It didn’t help that the demon was also very sweet, although very naive and Baekhyun felt really bad trying to figure out secret ways to get rid of him.

He’d even considered calling an exorcist.

But guilt ate at him like the plague when he had thoughts like that and he shouldn’t be feeling such things, but when he heard Chanyeol laughing from the other room it was adorable, and he found something in himself that wanted to smile.

Baekhyun was not an emotional person, he was more of the let me sleep around until I cry myself to sleep kind of person, but even since he’d stepped foot into the house he’d been experiencing some weird, for the lack of a better word, feelings. 

“Baekhyun! My pearl! Look what I’ve found!” 

Baekhyun sighed and used his palm to cover what would be a smile as the giant banged his elbow into the staircase on his way down.

Why was it cute for him to be a clutz?

“What is it, Chanyeol?”

The demon grinned and walked over to where he sat on a chair that drowned him, sitting on the floor at his feet with a small excited laugh before setting a metal tin in his lap and folding his hands in his lap.

Baekhyun raised a brow at his strange behavior, “Weirdo,” He commented. 

The box was a bit rusted, so it took him a moment to finally pop the lid off, but when he did, it was shock that ran through him.

“What…” 

“They’re from the 1800’s, do you like them?” Chanyeol smiled, tucking his chin on his knee to look up at him, “Courting gifts for you, my love! Technically we don’t need to do such things, but I think they’d look so pretty on you!” 

These weren’t exactly jewels you can just wear for any occasion, they were so outdated that Baekhyun would normally sell such things.

But he couldn’t even think to do that with puppy eyes blinking up at him and looking tiny for such a large man.

It was already hard enough to convince Chanyeol the past week that: no, we can’t sleep in the same bed.

It would be impossible to convince the other to sell these prized things.

Maybe Baekhyun could just get away with wearing one, a small bracelet, because it wasn’t bulky jewels and he could hide it better.

“Here, you want to put it on me?” He asked softly, heart racing for no apparent reason as he shut the tin and pulled the string of small diamonds down to offer to Chanyeol.

For once, Chanyeol didn’t seem to have much to say and that was a whole new level of weird as the demons fingers were hot when they brushed his wrist as he clasped the bracelet on.

Considering how long Chanyeol had been here, it was only natural for Baekhyun to assume that maybe he was only so obnoxious because he wanted attention.

Because the truth was Chanyeol was very quiet when Baekhyun was tired, or he made him food and was calm when he was busy.

He could see that the other was doing his best, but this was just so weird.

It wasn’t everyday that someone found a demon that called them my human.

“Very beautiful.” 

“It is.” 

“Wasn’t talking about the bracelet.” 

Baekhyun cleared his throat because if he looked at Chanyeol for too long he felt more compelled to do what his feelings were telling him to, he saw a flash a red and had to look away because he was reminded of how pretty it looked even though it should send him running.

What was wrong with him?

“Thank you for the gifts.” He mumbled, “They’re very precious to you and I’ll take care of them.” 

Whatever the demon had been looking for he must have not found because Chanyeol nodded and stood up, a small frown on his lips because he was horrible at hiding his emotions. “You’re welcome.” 

Baekhyun felt guilty again, watching the other start walking out of the room. “Chanyeol!” 

“Yes?” The look the other had was hopeful as he turned around, his hands shoved into the large black coat he wore.

“I’m serious. I do love them.” 

Chanyeol smiled a small bit, but it obviously wasn’t what he was looking for again. “I’m glad you love them. They look beautiful on you.” 

God why did he have to feel so much from looking at one person - if Chanyeol could even be considered that.

“Would you like to sit with me?” Baekhyun asked softly, highly aware he was on a chair and there was no room.

This time, the man grinned ear to ear, nodding frantically.

Baekhyun smiled gently as he walked over, climbing out of the chair and pushing Chanyeol to sit down.

It felt right to take a seat on his thigh, curling his legs over the side of the chair and grabbing the remote.

Chanyeol was so warm.

“Is this okay?” He asked quietly, heart beating out of his chest as he looked up at Chanyeol.

The demons eyes were bright red, and it gave off a dangerous look in normally childish eyes. 

But Baekhyun didn’t feel in danger at all as a long arm wrapped around his hips. 

“Thank you.” 

Baekhyun wanted to ask for what? But decided not to ruin the moment.


	64. Talk (Soulmates)

Baekhyun had been putting things off for a month now.

But after an explosive call with Yixing who now that he was fucking  _ nuts,  _ he needed to get answers because he was half convinced he  _ was  _ nuts too.

When Chanyeol wasn’t busy following him or pretending to sleep - Baekhyun wasn’t sure if he really  _ needed  _ to sleep or not - he was down in the basement crafting.

Only god knew what he was making, but a few times Baekhyun had gotten very cute sculptures and that was more than enough to have his heart racing.

He pushed the basement door open silently, stepping down into the dark room, feeling for the light.

Baekhyun saw a shining piece of wire hanging down, a pull light.

He stepped into the room and pulled the light.

Suddenly, his eyes burned, images he couldn’t unsee.

Pentagrams on the floor, red- so much red- blood. Dead people, arms and legs all over the room, death death death. Spirits- just so many deaths here- or something here caused it.

Baekhyun screamed like a child, backing himself into the wall, the brick scraped his back up but he was still seeing.

Even with his eyes squeezed shut he still saw, he couldn’t unsee.

“Baekhyun! It’s not real! It’s not real!” 

Baekhyun sobbed as arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a warm lap, large hands embracing him frantically. 

“Sh, it’s not real, it’s not real. I know, darling. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.. I..” Chanyeol cupped his face to pull him beneath his chin, the entire hand over the side of his face as Baekhyun cried his heart out.

Admittedly, he felt much better to be in Chanyeol's arms even though he was weakly smacking his chest.

Because he wouldn’t have to had seen such a thing if the  _ demon  _ wasn’t here.

“It’s.. there’s sigils to keep others out. I’m  _ so  _ sorry, I’ve heard they wouldn’t work on you. Not on my soulmate, I’m sorry, Baekhyun. Please.. please don’t be upset, I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know if demons could cry, but Chanyeol sounded like he might.

“Do- do you want me to leave? Why were you down here in the first place? Baekhyun.. p-please don’t make me leave..” 

He knew Chanyeol was freaking out, could  _ feel  _ the other freaking out, but he was much too busy trying to catch his breath to reassure the other, busy staring at the bright light on the ceiling with his eyes raw.

It was no longer dripping blood, there were no longer body parts spread out everywhere and everything had only happened in a flash, so truthfully Baekhyun hadn’t had time to  _ process  _ all he had seen.

“I’m  _ so  _ sorry. I’m sorry, I should.. I swear I’m not doing bad things, it’s a  _ sigil,  _ they’ll keep out.. other spirits.. demons, apparently.. people. My love.. I.. I’ll remove them right now-“

Chanyeol went to slide him off his lap and Baekhyun released a dry cry and tucked his head into his chest, fingers grabbing onto his top to prevent him from moving, “Don't l-leave me!”

“Okay. I’m sorry.” 

Baekhyun sniffed and wiggled around to lay his cheek down on the others shoulder, arm wrapping loosely around Chanyeol's neck and pressing his forehead into the man's sharp jaw, “T-Tell me why you’re here.”

It must have startled Chanyeol as the other attempted to pull away, upset, but that wasn’t Baekhyun’s intention, he just wanted  _ answers,  _ and after all of that he was damned if he didn’t get them.

“I told you,” Chanyeol murmured deeply, “My friend is a seer, and I’d been.. I’ve.. I  _ need  _ you. It’s.. hundreds of years are not fun, and I’m considered a young demon, one that hasn’t been around thousands of years, but I am  _ alone,  _ Baekhyun. I needed to have you, so I’d wait. I waited.”

_ “Why?” _

“Because you’re my soulmate, my human.” Chanyeol replied easily, a bit of a confused tone, “I’ve said so so many times, Baekhyun. You can’t feel it?”

Baekhyun knew. He’d heard so just about a million times but something never felt quite  _ right. _

Because Chanyeol always mentioned it so easily, quickly, and moved on. He didn’t give him a chance to talk about it nor question because the demon was a lot like a puppy and was easily distracted.

He did feel it though.

Maybe he’d just been in denial, but he had to face the music.

Chanyeol was sweet, he was handsome, he lifted him to sit on the counter when he couldn’t reach things, he was as excitable as a toddler and extremely funny.

What more could Baekhyun really ask for?

“I can feel it,” He mumbled, and it must be the adrenaline from his scare wearing off because he suddenly felt  _ exhausted  _ as he laid his cheek against the demon's firm chest, warm breath fanning Chanyeol's jaw as he closed his eyes, “Chanyeol. I’m tired.” 

“Okay.” The demon mumbled, not moving an inch and petting his side gently.

Baekhyun laughed under his breath, palm splaying over the man's abdomen where he could feel the ripples of muscle through his top. “It’s cold down here, honey. Please take me upstairs.” 

“Oh..” Chanyeol whispered before Baekhyun felt him jostling him a bit as he stood up, “Okay. Sleep.” 

The human snickered and if he wasn’t so tired he’d tease him more, but he felt really content to be carried around even though Chanyeol was accident prone and he’d seen the demon stumble into door frames much more than what  _ should  _ be possible.

He trusted that Chanyeol wouldn’t smack him into anything though.

“Goofball,” He whispered tiredly. “Sleep in the bed with me?”

“You said no..”

“I’m saying yes now, Chanyeol.” 

“Thank you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Debating on just spam posting the rest - then onto book three?


	65. Stamina (Soulmates)

“Baekhyun! Do you want to see something cool?” 

Baekhyun startled at the man's sudden - literally  _ sudden -  _ appearance at his side, finger slipping and the knife in his hand nicked the tip of his finger causing him to hiss and cover it with his palm.

“Oh no!” Chanyeol yelled, wide eyes near tears, “I-I can fix it!” 

“It’s not that bad,” Baekhyun mumbled, turning to grab a paper towel, “It just looks bad.” 

It really wasn’t bad, it was more a small scratch than anything, but since he was cutting wet lettuce the water was making it seem a lot worse.

“I can fix it..” Chanyeol repeated with puppy eyes and a small pout, putting his hands out, “You just have to make a deal with me.” 

Baekhyun hadn’t ever heard such a thing before and laughed, “You want my soul, baby?” 

The demon flustered, face turning pink, “We  _ share  _ a soul, of course not!” He whined, pressing himself into Baekhyun’s side to watch him dab the wound. “I’m not a healing demon - but I  _ can  _ make deals for healing.”

It really wasn’t a wound that called for needing to be healed, slapping a bandaid on it would do, but he knew Chanyeol would be very upset all day if he didn’t allow it, plus, he was curious.

“Okay, Chan. Let’s do it.” 

The smile he got was huge and reminded him why he liked to indulge in whatever demonesk things Chanyeol wanted to show off.

Last time it was accumulated money he’d found in the attic, so Baekhyun truly had no room to complain when he was getting a new car.

“Okay.. um.. um.. if you give me a hug then I can heal it.” 

Baekhyun giggled, “That’s  _ it?” _

Chanyeol licked his lips nervously, “But.. to.. to seal it you have to give me a kiss… it can just be on the cheek or something..” 

_ Adorable, _

For someone that oozed sex appeal, Baekhyun was awfully enamored by his innocence, especially considering that he was a  _ demon,  _ and legends didn’t exactly say they were sweet and blushing.

“Easy,” Baekhyun cooed, giving his hand over to Chanyeol. 

Within a second the dripping wound was closing and Chanyeol was looking at him beggingly, it made Baekhyun laugh, standing on his toes to press a kiss to the others nose.

But at the last second he decided differently and found his lips pressed against pink, plump ones.

He felt Chanyeol intake a loud breath against his lips before it was like the atmosphere changed and they were no longer just a pair making lunch, but Baekhyun’s spine was behind pressed into the cabinets and his hand cupping Chanyeol's face as his mouth was devoured.

A large hand curled around the back of his knees and Baekhyun released a moan as he was lifted up, legs wrapping around the back of Chanyeol's hips and moving his arms to wrap closer around the others shoulders.

He felt like a horny teenager again with how fast he was turned on simply from  _ kissing. _

It’d been a long time since he’d gotten so heated so fast, but Chanyeol's hands were cupping his ass and licking so intensely into his mouth that he should be concerned about being unable to breathe.

But he’d happily suffocate even though he was panting when Chanyeol moved to kiss down his neck. 

Teeth latched onto his collarbone and the nose Baekhyun made even  _ he _ wasn’t sure if it was a moan or a groan, but it hardly mattered as he rolled his hips into Chanyeol's and earned a throaty  _ snarl. _

It set his nerves on fire and made him do it again just to hear such a noise.

“F-Fuck, you’re so pretty. Baekhyun, you’re a gorgeous creature.” 

In return, Baekhyun hugged around his chest when the other started moving, mouth tracing the shell of Chanyeol's ear. Such adorable, large ears.

“Chanyeol,  _ Chanyeol,  _ Chan..” It was like a mantra even though the demon wasn’t doing a thing to him other than holding him, his lips were swollen and he was hard beyond belief, unable to stop himself from latching beneath Chanyeol's ear and sucking hard at the patch of soft skin.

It didn’t even bruise and Baekhyun just felt determined to somehow figure out how to leave a mark on the other because he knew he’d be bruised purple after this. 

His back hit something soft, hair flopping back against a pillow and Baekhyun giggled, sound cut off by lips pressing to his followed by a tongue tracing his teeth.

“Oh fuck!” Baekhyun hissed impatiently, throwing his leg over the back of Chanyeol's and trailing a hand needily between their bodies to palm the demon. “Fuck me, fuck me please.” 

Chanyeol was making noises unheard by Baekhyun before, tongue clicking and grinding noises that sounded nearly angry, and accompanied by red eyes it should make him ask if he was.

But the heat in his palm was  _ hot  _ and  _ huge,  _ and Baekhyun swore he was going to go insane if he didn’t have it  _ now. _

“Chan,” Baekhyun whined when his wrists were moved and pinned beside his ears, bucking his hips for some relief. “Please fuck me,” He begged, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth, “You’re so big, I need it, please. Need your cock, Chanyeol. Please.” 

Chanyeol groaned and dipped his head down to kiss wetly at his jaw as he released him and in one move was ripping his shirt open and trailing his mouth down his now naked and flushed chest. “Baekhyun, you’re  _ beautiful.” _

Now wasn’t really the time to sweet talk because Baekhyun thought he was going to die if he didn’t get  _ something,  _ but he curled his fingers into the pillow beneath his head and smiled anyways, licking his swollen mouth.

The demon kissed all the way down to his sweatpants, dipping teasing fingers in and Baekhyun almost didn’t pick out the words over his own needs and moaning.

But he was very attuned to Chanyeol these days.

“I just love you. You’re perfect.” 

He took back not wanting sweetness and sex to mix, because he felt even warmer if possible as he reached down to pet Chanyeol's hair, brushing it from his eyes. “I love you too.” 

Chanyeol always looked best when excited.

******

“Baekhyun? You awake?” 

The human hummed, rolling over to snuggle into Chanyeol's side although sticky and tired, pressing his palm softly over the others' abs. 

“Hey… I-I have to confess something.” 

Baekhyun tilted his head up with a small smile, wiggling to scoot up and press a soft kiss to Chanyeol's lips, fingers tracing the shell of the demons ear and moving to press tired kisses down his cheek. “Yes, baby?”

Chanyeol cleared his throat, hand splaying over his waist to pull him closer beneath the blankets, “I don’t need a kiss to do a deal, I just wanted one. If I don’t tell you now then I’ll feel guilty,” 

The human resisted the urge to smile because he’d  _ already  _ figured as much, “Okay, honey.” 

“You… you’re not mad?” 

Baekhyun snickered this time, worming a hand under the sheets to trail down Chanyeol's stomach and earning a shiver when his fingertips danced along the thin trail of hair leading to a  _ prize,  _ “I’m a bit tired right now, so make love to me softly this time, okay?” 

Demons must have had  _ amazing  _ stamina, because Chanyeol was  _ never  _ tired.


	66. Hi, little prince (DDLB/Soulmate)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little Baekhyun needs a home, do you accept?

  
Chanyeol had first met Baekhyun due to his timing.

The actual situation was that he was going to meet up with Junmyeon, one of his oldest friends for lunch and had gotten stuck at work a half hour later than normal.

It’s been completely unexpected, but one of his staff had been having a hard time with their Little and Chanyeol _couldn’t_ relate even if he wanted to just because he didn’t have one.

He hadn’t found his soulmate but knew that it had to be a Little.

Because when he went to stories he found himself looking at the clothing for them, he found himself staring down sippy cups and toys.

He _worked_ as the head artist for a children’s story company.

And the icing on top was the words on his ribs, his soulmates words. They _weren’t_ anything just anyone would say randomly - no one but a _Little._

Chanyeol had always known he had to take care of a Little eventually.

It still didn’t prepare him for the shock at all.

It was a very storming day, and he’d come bursting into the diner erratically because he _knew_ how much Junmyeon hated to wait.

But what he didn’t expect was the head of curls sitting in the corner of the booth with fingers in his mouth in teary eyes, beside him Junmyeon patting his hair.

The Little looked so _small._ He was so small and dressed poorly for the weather and had the prettiest set of droopy eyes Chanyeol had ever seen in his entire twenty five years.

He simply stood in front of the table _awestruck._

“Ah, this is my friend. I’ll be right back, Baekhyun, okay? I’ll be right over there…” Junmyeon said, pointing across the room, “Just don't move, don’t move, sweetheart.” 

Chanyeol didn’t ever see his friend so soft spoken unless in dire situations or with their friends Little. But, even then, Littles were rare and sensitive things and he felt his hair sticking up because the Little here seemed to have been crying at _least._

Junmyeon had to yank them away from the table and Chanyeol felt he’d blanked out just staring at the Little, but when the other pulled him into a corner across the room Chanyeol’s _first_ instinct was to turn so he could watch the boy over his shoulder.

Baekhyun was simply curled into a ball and laying down against the booth as if extremely tired, and sad and that _wasn’t_ okay, he should be smiling and giggling and climbing around happily because that’s what Littles _did -_ they made others smile with their bright ones.

“-and then I was walking in and he was sitting all alone, unsupervised. I was really worried because, you know, Littles don’t have the capacity and means to take care of themselves, so I spoke to him and I ordered him food. He said his name after a while but -I’m really worried. It’s not normal for a Little to be this quiet, much less to be alone-“

Chanyeol _was_ listening, truly, but as he was also watching how wide the Littles eyes went as a waitress brought him food, sitting up straight and she was probably cooing at him because he was _that_ adorable and the Little ate it up with his fingers pressing into his lips and nodding.

He looked more like he just wanted to eat rather than listen to the girl, but he must be a _very_ good boy because he didn’t even attack the food until she was done talking and walking away.

“- you even listening? Hey! I’m talking about serious things.”

A hit was delivered to his arm and Chanyeol hissed, eyes snapping down to look at Junmyeon and frowning, “Damn. Are you _Kyungsoo?_ Why the hitting?” 

Junmyeon rolled his eyes, “You weren’t even looking at me. You-“ Suddenly the other stopped and turned to look over his shoulder before again at Chanyeol, at Baekhyun, and then gasping, “He's _yours?”_

“I don’t know.” Chanyeol murmured, unable to keep his eyes from checking on the Little, watching Baekhyun stand up on his knees to try to reach ketchup and the Little knocked over the pepper and _frowned_ like it’d absolutely ruined his entire day.

Even his outfit was nothing you’d see a typical Little wearing.

It wasn’t pretty nor _special_ and Littles liked to be both of those things - it was just a simple black t-shirt and jean shorts and fucking _flip flops._

Chanyeol felt a rush of anger because it had to be freezing the Littles toes to be wearing such things.

“You said he hasn’t spoken?” He asked, tucking his hands into his pockets.

Junmyeon nodded, “Yeah. I mean, he said he was twenty three and that he was _Baekhyunnie,_ and - Yeol! Hey, I’m talking- hey!”

Chanyeol ignored it in favor of rushing over to help the boy before he _hurt himself_ because he had his paws on a butter knife and _didn’t the waitress know better_ than to give an obvious Little such tools.

“Hi, little prince,” He cooed, sliding into the seat to gently peel the metal from his fingers.

Baekhyun let it go rather easily, looking at him wide eyed with a rim of wetness around pretty chocolate eyes before suddenly he had an even prettier smile on his face and was pressing his hands between his knees and his shoulders did a small shake as he release an excited squeal.

Chanyeol laughed at the abrupt sound, because nothing in the world could be cuter, and was scooting closer to cut up the chicken strips.

Somewhere along the line he heard Junmyeon sit back down, but he was busy and Baekhyun seemed busy staring at him with an _I know something you don’t_ sort of look.

Cute.

“Okay, prince, you eat slowly, okay? We wouldn’t want you to choke.” He requested, removing the metal utensils and still clicking his tongue in annoyance because Littles were _known_ to get hurt on such things.

They weren’t _stupid -_ they were _curious._

Being a Little was no choice for them, it was how they felt more comfortable and even though some people considered that “a lifestyle choice,” Chanyeol _didn’t_ because people shouldn’t have to struggle to choose to be comfortable on a daily basis.

So even if some very stuck up people considered them “stupid,” the majority adored Littles and it was shown in all of the items available for them and all of the stores catering specifically to them.

Baekhyun was holding a piece of chicken in one hand when his other tugged on Chanyeol's coat and he blinked cutely, leaning closer, _“Will you take care of me?”_

Chanyeol short circuited and at first looked at Junmyeon like he just _hadn’t_ heard the babe right, but of course he’d have no idea why his heart was racing because Junmyeon didn’t know, and even if he _did_ he was busy texting and not paying attention.

But Baekhyun was still staring, blinking pretty eyes and waiting for a response, chewing on his food with one hand and the other having a _death grip_ on his coat.

Because the Little already _knew,_ and it explained his small mischievous grin when he’d watched Chanyeol cut up his food.

“Daddy. Will you take care of me?” The Little repeated softly, setting his chicken strip down to tug both hands on Chanyeol's coat needily, impatiently.

“I-“ He nearly felt like crying at the tiny writing on the inside of Baekhyun’s wrist once he noticed his messy handwriting: _Hi, little prince._

He swallowed hard, “Yes. Yes. Hi, baby. You must have been hiding from me so long, huh?” He cooed, pulling the Little into his side to hide how overwhelmed he was.

The loudest Little giggle rang out as Baekhyun forced his way into his coat with slightly sticky fingers and a bright beam, “I- I good at hide n seek!” 

Chanyeol beamed, snuggling the Little closer to him, “Let’s play soon, bunny. Eat until you’re very full so daddy can take you home and get you in for a nap.” 

“What’d I miss?” Junmyeon called suddenly, looking far too unconcerned at Chanyeol near tears and hiding a Little in his coat. 

“He _is,”_ Chanyeol responded, “He is. _Finally.”_

Junmyeon’s smile brightened and he stood up and began to collect his things, “I’m happy! I’ll give you guys some time. But… Chanyeol, please figure out.. why he was.. you know.” 

He then leaned over the table to grab the Littles finger playfully, “Baekhyunnie! I’ll see you very soon so we can play, okay? We have so many friends for you to play with!” 

Baekhyun squealed with excitement, wiggling his toes on the booth, “Yay!” 

Chanyeol had no other choice but to kiss the boys hair for just being so goddamn adorable and watched Junmyeon walk off before beginning to wipe off Baekhyun’s fingers, “Chanyeollie is going to just get you something on the way home, okay? I’m very excited to get you home, baby boy! Let’s buy you so many things and warm you up!”

“Chanyeollie?” The Little turned his head to the side.

“Me. My name is Park Chanyeol, baby-“

“No, no! No no no!” The babe sung before giggling, “Chanyeollie is _daddy! Daddy is Yeollie!”_

It was undeniable how much his heart swelled as he removed his coat to put over the Littles shoulders and then picked him up, “That’s _right!_ You must be such a smart boy! Daddy is going to eat you up, and spoil you rotten!” 

He heard a small smack and saw the worn, plastic flip flops sitting on the tile and raised a brow but Baekhyun laughed loudly, fingers going to Chanyeol's hair. “Daddy has to carry me now! So funny!” 

Baekhyun was _perfect._

Chanyeol grinned and tossed a random amount of cash from his pocket before pulling the hood over Baekhyun’s head and feeling the babe curling toes into his top and ooing at his fading white hair. “Is it so funny? Tell me about it, pumpkin!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to post the first chs of those remaining


	67. Little sad (DDLB/Soulmate)

Chanyeol did end up finding out why Baekhyun was alone in that diner and he was  _ pissed. _

It was days in when the Little finally answered his questions when they were busy looking at things on the computer.

He would have preferred to get the Little things then and now, but the storm was raging and he wasn’t going to risk it right now because he already suspected the Little was coming down with something.

He asked where Baekhyun was from and had gotten a very sad pout and watery eyes along with a  _ bad daddy house.  _

It was  _ common  _ for Littles to be with others before their soulmate so Chanyeol couldn’t really feel hurt or jealous.

But he  _ could  _ feel anger because he hadn’t understood what Baekhyun meant by  _ bad -  _ it could have been anything at all.

He was starting to understand now.

“Hey! No, no! Baby, what are you- no-“

Chanyeol ran over to grab Baekhyun’s waist because the Little was standing on the kitchen counter and that was a huge  _ no -  _ couldn't he see how high up that was.

“Baekhyunnie, what are you thinking, prince?” Chanyeol signed, kneeling down to grab the Littles hips and look at him.

Baekhyun’s eyes were still puffy with sleep, and the entire reason Chanyeol was even up was because he’d felt the baby leave the bed. 

It was only six in the morning, so the boy should still be resting at least a few more hours.

“I- Have to make breakfast when clock has straight line…” 

Chanyeol breathed heavily and pressed his lips together as he pulled Baekhyun in to rest his forehead on the Littles stomach.

What was he? Some kind of little servant? 

That was  _ dangerous  _ and  _ cruel _ and perhaps Chanyeol was just assuming, but even Baekhyun said he had a  _ bad daddy  _ before. 

“Baby, listen to me, okay?” He got out after a moment, petting Baekhyun’s hair from his face and cupping his cheeks.

“Kay daddy.” 

Such a good boy. So sweet.

Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his cheek because his Little was so sweet and very good and it wasn’t fair. “My sweet Little prince. It’s  _ daddy’s  _ job to take care of you, right? Daddy is supposed to take care of you so you don’t need to come do this, baby. You just stay in bed and sleep all you want and daddy makes you breakfast and wakes his Little boy up. It’s not your job. It’s very  _ dangerous  _ for you to play around in here, you know better, baby. I know you do - it’s no fun, right?” 

Baekhyun looked confused but also a bit tearful, shuffling and rubbing his bare feet together. “... no fun.” 

“Good boy. And if it’s no fun then that means don’t do it, right? Baby doesn’t like to do things that aren’t fun.” He prompted, tickling below Baekhyun’s chin softly.

The Little had a small confused frown on his face and stared at Chanyeol for a good minute before he burst with a hiccup and tears, “Don’t  _ like!”  _

“Oh, baby. My poor boy, sh.” 

Chanyeol was quick to scoop him up, walking back and forth with the Little crying a waterfall into his neck.

It must be a big change, but the elder could also feel that Baekhyun’s skin was a Little heated and knew the other would be sick soon so that also contributed to his sensitivity. 

“Sweet thing, going to take care of you. So, don’t worry about these sorts of things; it's  _ daddy’s  _ job, not baby’s job. Your job is to just play all day and smile and be a very happy boy. A sweet, sweet Little boy.” 

“S-s’sayed to me: Baekhyun go!” The Little screamed, kicking his feet in what to anyone else would assume a fit, but Chanyeol knew it wasn’t, he was  _ sad  _ and scared. “Yelled me! And then.. I go, because so mad! So mad and it’s bad! Can’t be bad boy!” 

Baekhyun was really  _ mad _ and  _ sad,  _ and in general just so upset that Chanyeol had to set him down on the living room couch for just a minute with a kiss to his hair to let him cry it out a bit, dashing into the kitchen while the Little was distracted smacking the couch cushions.

“My good boy, I’ll be there in a second! Just a minute, baby. You’re a good boy, you’re not in trouble or bad, Baekhyunnie. Just give me one second,” He cooed continuously as he hurried to fill up a sippy cup of milk.

Ideally, he’d warm it up and everything, but he didn’t have much time to even put the milk up because being away from Baekhyun when the babe was so upset just felt  _ wrong. _

_ “Go! Go! Bad! So mean me! So mean, so-“ _

Chanyeol gently grabbed the pillow from his hands before the baby angrily threw it across the room.

He wasn’t  _ bad.  _

He just had so much frustration to let out and that was as any normal person  _ had. _

Only Baekhyun was no normal person, but a  _ Little  _ and they couldn’t handle emotions quite as well and just looking at his red and sobbing face it was easy to tell he’d been bundling everything up for so long.

Because he didn’t want to be a  _ bad boy.  _

Chanyeol wanted to  _ know  _ who told Baekhyun as much because it was such a horrible thing to say to any Little, and it did not sit well with him at all that this also happened to be his Little soulmate screaming his head off and wailing like it was the end of the world.

“Baby, baby..” He soothed, pulling the Little across his lap, “Here. Daddy’s here, sh. My angel, just breathe.” Chanyeol whispered, leaning Baekhyun’s head into the crook of his neck and pressing the sippy cup to his mouth.

Nearly instantly the Little started to calm down, pulling his knees up and fiddling with the end of Chanyeol’s top he wore as a dress, his tears slowly started to become more of a stream than a river.

“Sh. Good boy, my sweet boy,” The elder crooned, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun’s temple softly, “Let’s just relax a bit, prince. Daddy is listening, always listening to you, pumpkin, but let’s not throw things and scream because I don’t want you to be hurt and look..” He murmured, lifting Baekhyun’s fingers to press a kiss onto a tiny red spot on his wrist, “.. baby smacked himself, so let’s be easy because you don’t like to be hurt and daddy doesn’t like you to be hurt either.” 

The cup bubbled up and even though Baekhyun didn’t make a move to move away nor any noises, Chanyeol gently removed it and pressed a kiss to the soft pink lips as he set the cup on the couch and adjusted Baekhyun more into his lap.

The baby was likely to need it again in just a bit, so he made sure to keep it within reach as he curled the Little up and held him with a hand on his head and the other petting over his thigh to settle him some more.

_ “Runned ‘way.. to food place.”  _

“Yeah? That’s okay. It doesn’t make you a bad boy. That doesn’t make you anything but upset, Baekhyun. You’re not a bad boy, and I don’t care about whatever your old caretaker  _ said.  _ You’re a very good boy. You can be a good boy and do some bad things sometimes but that doesn’t make you bad.” 

Baekhyun sniffled and brought fingers to his mouth, muffling his talking, “.. so mean to me, daddy. He was no good daddy.” 

Chanyeol swallowed down his anger to pet the Littles cheek, “Yeah? I’m sure he wasn’t a good daddy to you. But I’m going to be. I’m going to be very good to you, pumpkin; me and you are soulmates so we’ll get to be together  _ always  _ even if we sometimes act a little bad and do some naughty things. Daddy can be mad sometimes too. Sometimes he forgets to clean things up and makes messes and that’s naughty, so it’s  _ okay  _ if we do some bad things sometimes, do you think daddy is a bad boy?” 

The Little gasped, glossy and pink eyes shoot up to give a quick shake of his head, “Daddy no bad.”

“See?” The other chided, “Then sometimes baby can do some bad things but he’s not bad. My Baekhyunnie is a very good boy in fact and deserves all the hugs.” 

Baekhyun sniffed really hard and his chin wobbled as he moved to hug Chanyeol's neck,  _ “..snuggles.”  _

Chanyeol bit the inside of his cheek and snuggled his nose into the vanilla scent of his Little, “All the snuggles and hugs and kisses, little prince. Daddy is just going to take such good care of you.” 


	68. Cocoon (DDLB/Soulmate)

_“Chanyeol…”_

“Yeah, I can’t come in today, Min. Baekhyun is really sick. Yeah. No, he’ll be okay - he’ll be fine, don’t come, it’s so bad outside. I’ll update you - yeah, see you-“

_“-Min hi.”_

“Ah, Baekhyun says hi, I’ll talk to you later.” 

Chanyeol sighed and placed his phone down on the dresser, literally _just_ having woken up to the insistent sniffling and coughing in his ear.

“What are you doing on the floor, pumpkin?” He sighed as Baekhyun tugged on his pajama pants. “Baby, you’re _sick,_ let’s not play on the floor,” He scolded softly.

The Little whined and pressed his flushed cheek down against Chanyeol's calf, and it was pretty dramatic how quickly the man was wishing the weather to hell.

“Okay. I know, I know, come on-“

Baekhyun grunted when he went to pick him up and Chanyeol sighed, petting his cheek, “I need to go get you medicine and fed, daddy needs to get to the kitchen and baby needed to get in a warm bath or warm bed, Little prince.” 

“Ch-Chanyeol!” The Littles squealed, throat sounding dry and voice scratchy. 

The elder could only frown and pet his hair softly and he _swore_ this had to be the most Baekhyun said his actual name.

Probably because when he was a Little he was comforting himself, but it was very hard to do so when you’re sick and uncomfortable in general.

Poor baby.

“You want to hold my hand? Let’s go holding hands, sweetness.” 

That must have sounded better because the Little gave him glossy, feverish eyes and started climbing to his feet to latch onto his arm.

Ideally, he’d be getting carried because Chanyeol could put him _fast_ to sleep that way, but he suspected that was the exact reason Baekhyun didn’t want to be up.

Because he wasn’t stupid and knew he’d be out like a light.

Baekhyun just wanted all his attention because he didn’t feel good and that was more than fine with Chanyeol.

“When you get better,” He whispered, squeezing Baekhyun’s fingers as he pulled out a chair by the island. “Let’s have a playdate, huh? You can play with friends and get spoiled.” 

The Little held his arm tight as he climbed into the seat before finally releasing him and flopping his cheek down onto the marble.

Chanyeol shook his head worriedly and leaned down to kiss his hair before making his way around the kitchen.

“My poor Little prince. Daddy will cuddle you just as soon as you eat something.” 

_“It’s owy.”_ Baekhyun croaked, pressing his hands between his knees.

Chanyeol clicked his tongue sadly and let his hair for a moment.

If his baby had a stomach ache then he definitely was going to put up a fit if he made him a normal breakfast of eggs and potatoes and sometimes bacon if his baby was in a very hungry mood.

But even on normal days Baekhyun wasn’t a big eater in the mornings, but rather quick to eat some bites and then wanting milk all the way up until lunchtime where he had a very big lunch and dinner.

So he tossed some bread into the toaster and quickly filled up a cup of milk and added some NyQuil into it because he knew Baekhyun would throw an entire fit, “My sweet boy, here. It would make daddy very happy if you had this and then we can cuddle the rest of the day, okay?” 

The Little was such a good boy even when feeling sick and was a sucker for milk so he sat up with a grabby hand to yank Chanyeol's pajama top and pull him closer with the cup dangling in his other hand. “Hug daddy.” 

“Ah, you’re so warm, don’t worry we can go to bed,” Chanyeol sighed, kissing his forehead and hugging his cheek to his chest. “Let’s just have a few bites and then back to bed.” 

“Mhm,” Baekhyun huffed his approval, sucking down his milk and tangled fingers into Chanyeol's top to make sure he didn’t go far. 

******

Chanyeol hadn’t been planning on taking a nap, because even though he’d called in he still had some drawings to email to Minseok, the writer of their company.

He did the art, Minseok did everything else pretty much.

He couldn’t complain because his job, even if it was time consuming, didn’t have much pressing matters until he was on a time limit.

So it left him with a lot of time to coddle Baekhyun.

When he woke up he also hadn’t been planning on the Little straddling his lap and touching his face.

But it was sweet and when he opened his eyes it was with a laugh and hands moving up the Littles thighs to hold his hips, “ _Someone_ feels better,” He laughed.

Baekhyun beamed when he realized he was awake, skin slightly flushed as he wiggled a bit and curled fingers into his top, “Daddy made me better!”

Chanyeol grinned and lifted his palm to feel his face. 

It was still warm, but Baekhyun likely just felt better after a - looking outside it was now dark - _very_ long sleep.

“Yeah? You must be all ready to play and jump while daddy puts together your toy box, huh?” 

“Nope!” The Little chirped, flopping down onto his chest with a tiny, scratchy laugh and pressing his chin on his sternum, “Special hugs please!” 

Chanyeol felt he’d missed something because he’d never told the prince anything of _special hugs_ or made moves to do so other than a few wet kisses that Baekhyun always started.

Because his Little soulmate had been here only two weeks and they’d really had yet to do much more than order things online and meet Chanyeol's friends on skype because it’d been crazy storming out.

And because he’d been trying to _avoid_ Baekhyun getting sick, but life didn’t listen to him apparently.

It made his chest fill with jealousy that someone before him had taught the Little that, but he wasn’t stupid.

Most Littles weren’t _this_ comfortable to be so small when younger, normally around their late teens they’d start to feel more and more uncomfortable with themselves until they were forced to face the truth.

It was just hard to see Baekhyun having sex with someone else, others, even though he knew realistically the babe probably had many lovers in the past with his pretty face. 

“You’re still sick, Little soulmate, no special hugs right now.” He cooed softly, straining his neck to kiss Baekhyun’s nose and cheek. “But when you get better we can have sex, but only when you’re better and when you want to.” 

It didn’t seem to bother Baekhyun all that much, he really wasn’t that fussy at all even when told no, so Chanyeol wasn’t too surprised when the baby just squealed at the promise and sat up, “Can.. did teddy’s come yet? Daddy, I love puppy dogs!”

God, he felt he was the one that was sick based on the way his heart was beating so fast. Baekhyun had no room to be so adorably excited over just stuffed animals.

“I don’t know, pumpkin,” He smiled as Baekhyun ooed when he sat up, “We can take a very short walk down to the lobby to check the mail, only if my baby dresses warm and listens very well.” 

Baekhyun giggled and reached behind him to pull the blanket over the back of his head and sat in a cocoon as he held it so only his nose was seen.

_“Ta-da! Time to go!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ready for book three?


	69. Fun (DDLB/Soulmate)

“I know! I know, you must be so excited to see me!” 

Chanyeol had an armful of his baby as soon as he was stepping through the door, dropping the bag of food onto the floor as a body ran at him full speed. 

He’d had to physically go into work for the  _ first  _ time since Baekhyun had been here, and the poor baby had thrown a huge fit and been crying up a storm when he’d heard he needed to go in for a meeting.

But Baekhyun knew better than to argue and had made him promise  _ daddy come home super fast please,  _ with droopy, watery eyes. 

Chanyeol wasn’t worried about Baekhyun being bad while he was gone, he made sure the baby’s phone was charged and had set up a blanket pile in the living room and snacks and cartoons, so he knew Baekhyun would be preoccupied for a while.

It was just a matter of whether the baby would get lonely and the messages he’d received the past four hours proved that to be a worry because there were well over thirty of them.

They were all just random: 

_ I play ur games, kay? _

_ Mr Wolf sayed daddy home soon!  _

_ Eat all daddy’s cookies if not home soon!  _

_ I dancing from the tv, funny, rigt?  _

And Chanyeol tried to respond when he could because he was worried Baekhyun would get lonely,  _ Aw, daddy misses you! Don’t dance too hard, pumpkin, I want hugs when I get back. _

But it was just obvious Baekhyun was used to being alone, and it wasn’t okay because he was a  _ Little  _ and he practically withered without attention.

He’d been so surprised when Chanyeol was giving him a phone too,  _ I can call daddy all time? _

Of  _ course  _ he could call him all the time, what kind of soulmate would he be just leaving the baby with no way to contact him? 

Chanyeol just kept having to remind himself that he and Baekhyun had each other’s  _ words  _ on the other, they were soulmates and therefore he was much more inclined to be with him than any other Littles even if he was known to spoil Luhan rotten because he had been the only Little he communicated with.

Baekhyun’s  _ bad daddy  _ wasn’t his soulmate, and Chanyeol just kept having to remember the other likely didn’t feel nearly as inclined to take care of him.

It just made him a  _ shitty  _ person not to treat him right when Baekhyun was full of love and gummy smiles.

“Where are you bouncing off to!” Chanyeol snorted in disbelief as the Little started jumping out of his arms, feet covered by his sheep printed pajamas, “I didn’t even get a kiss!”

“Dance!” Baekhyun cried, pointing at the tv before spinning around in a full circle and wiggling his arms goofily.

Chanyeol laughed at him, but it was  _ adorable,  _ and he was sure to record a video of his cuteness if Baekhyun was going to be so wiggly.

“Oh, so pretty! How cute, go Baekhyunnie!” He cheered, gathering his abandoned back to bring to the coffee table.

The Little screeched a happy noise and started jumping about while watching the music video on the tv.

Chanyeol could only watch with a small smile and unreasonably felt himself choked up.

It wasn’t too soon at all to claim he loved the Little. Not at all.

They were  _ soulmates,  _ and Baekhyun filled something he never realized was missing.

Chanyeol didn’t consider himself a lonely person, not someone who dove head first into others for attention, he never had anything serious truly bad happen to him personally. 

He made mistakes and had regrets before of course. 

He drank and partied in the past, he worried over his education and friendships.

But not as he assumed Baekhyun had.

He never tried to analyze Littles even though he knew a lot of psychologists were interested in them, truly he neve spent much time thinking about why they were this way.

Luhan was the only other Little he knew, and he never questioned things at all about them, why they felt so comfortable like this.

The only time he’d ever seen Luhan  _ not  _ being well… himself was at a meeting because it was a  _ big  _ deal and Yifan, his soulmate, looked just as uncomfortable as the Little who sat obediently as everyone signed paper because they’d just gotten  _ sponsored,  _ and Luhan was the genius behind that specific children’s book so of course he deserved to be there for it.

But he’d burst into tears as soon as he could and started flailing in his suit and screaming  _ FanFan! _

Chanyeol knew something happened to make them this way - he  _ knew  _ now.

Because Baekhyun was lonely and he was scared easily and wanted  _ every  _ person's eyes on him when he wanted it and  _ now  _ or it would ruin the entire day.

A day ruined just because Kyungsoo hadn’t looked fast enough at the new giraffe he was dragging and didn’t respond fast enough to his  _ daddy buyed me, cute huh? _

He knew whatever void he suddenly had filled was twice as large for Baekhyun, and he could only hope he filled it too.

“Come here, pumpkin. Daddy needs you to relax.” 

Instantly he had the pretty boy with a huge smile climbing onto the couch just to plop down across his chest.

He was too big to fit across his chest, but they made it work so Chanyeol could kiss his pretty lips and pet his flushed cheek, “Did you have fun, beautiful?” 

Baekhyun had half lidded eyes and an impish grin, “Fun daddy,” He cooed and sat up for more kisses. 


	70. Park (DDLB/Soulmates)

_ “Come along! Along with me!”  _

“A little control freak you have?” 

Chanyeol gave Kyungsoo an unamused look at that, rolling his eyes and rapping his fingers along the side of his coffee as he watched Baekhyun tug Luhan by his arm towards the swings.

“He likes to think he’s in charge,” Chanyeol defended softly, “He just plays a little rough sometimes.” 

“Luhan doesn’t,” Yifan murmured.

Chanyeol huffed and sat back in his spot.

They were at the coffee shop beside the park so he could see their Littles easily, but it was still a bit annoying to try and compare Baekhyun and Luhan.

They really  _ weren’t  _ the same at all, and he knew Yifan wasn’t used to seeing his Little playing with others, so he wasn’t  _ too  _ annoyed at the comment.

But he knew Baekhyun  _ was _ a bit naughty. He did get into things, he broke a lot of toys, he couldn’t handle himself really at all when mad or upset.

But those  _ weren’t  _ Baekhyun’s fault, he was just a deeper Little than Luhan who was always aware of what he was doing.

More childish, a bit more immature, but he knew what he wanted, he knew he’d done bad, and he always said sorry.

That was more than Chanyeol would really expect based on the neglect he’d been put through with his last caretaker. 

“Baekhyun is  _ younger,”  _ He heard Jongin defend beside Kyungsoo, an arm around his boyfriends neck, “Like, come on, Baek still likes to  _ nap,  _ he took two naps last time Sehun and I watched him, Luhan is older and more…..”

“Less reliant,” Chanyeol supplied with a sigh, watching closely as Baekhyun yanked the other towards a sandbox, face pink from the cold and bringing his sleeve up to wipe his pink, runny nose on his sweater with a huge smile, hair bouncing over his eyes.

The smile was a good sign, and as soon as he lost it Chanyeol knew it was  _ baby rest time,  _ because Baekhyun could be pushy and a grumpy baby with company was not very nice.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry, it’s just.. you know, Luhan hasn’t had a friend before so I worry.” 

Chanyeol turned to acknowledge Yifan with pursed lips and a nod, “Yeah. Baek either, he wouldn’t be mean to him though, you know he wouldn’t. Hell, Baekhyun is more likely to give up all his toys than anything.” 

Yifan grinned shortly, looking apologetic, “Yeah. I didn’t mean it.. like.. offensively, it’s just so weird, right? A while ago our meetings would have been all alone to watch Luhan jump around, and now we have tw-“

“Where’d the Littles go?” 

Chanyeol swore that he and Yifan were falling out of their seats at Jongin's question, eyes shooting towards the window.

Luhan was walking over this way, but no Baekhyun behind him, the boy was twiddling a toy in his red fingers.

“Fuck, i'll be back” He cursed, climbing from his seat and making a run out of the cafe only to stop in front of Luhan, “Lu, where’s Baek?” 

He knew he sounded frantic, but he’d never  _ lost  _ Baekhyun before, he looked away for two seconds.

The doe eyed boy gave him a bright grin, holding a spinning top up for Chanyeol to see, “Channie! Nice man gave me this!”

“That’s nice, where’s Baekhyun?” He asked impatiently.

Luhan hummed before pointing over his shoulder distractedly, “Nice man by the slide!” 

“Thank you, go inside. It’s cold,” Chanyeol said, making a quick rush towards the playground to see what the hell Luhan was talking about.

He snatched the baby blue scarf off the wood chips on his journey, knowing he’d have to retuck Baekhyun into it.

_ “Kay! Now you give candy, you said!”  _

_ “I said if you were good, are you good?”  _

_ “My daddy says I’m very good boy!” _

_ “And don’t you think since I’ve given you and your friend a toy that I deserve something too? Little thing, that’s not fair, right?” _

Chanyeol’s expression contorted into anger as he stormed around the back of the hideously painted purple slide to see Baekhyun sitting on the ladder of the slide and pouting at his bunny stuffed animal in his hands.

He hadn’t made himself known yet, standing with his arms crossed at an older man that was facing the Little. 

“I think…” Baekhyun mumbled, mouth bright red from cold and his constant chewing at his lips as he grabbed a small Iron Man action figure to give back to the man, “No want your toy, sank you.” 

Chanyeol  _ was  _ proud, but he wasn’t about to allow the other to speak anymore to Baekhyun if he didn’t rant to be assaulted in a public park.

And honestly Chanyeol wasn’t in the mood to be arrested today.

“Baby,” He called, stomping through the wood chips and making himself known, “What are you doing here?” 

Baekhyun was all googly eyes and arms up as soon as he saw him, and that was more than enough of a reaction for Chanyeol to know he was  _ uncomfortable,  _ and that was in no world okay.

“Oh. I just saw that he’d dropped his toy,” The man commented, voice nervous as Chanyeol walked over to scoop the babe up, Baekhyun’s cold fingers tucking into the neck of his coat.

He could feel the grey fur on the outside of his bunny stuffed animal rubbing into his skin.

“Yeah? How odd, he didn’t come with that toy,” Chanyeol growled, patting Baekhyun’s spine as he turned with raised brows to give the man a good once over. “Sure hope you weren’t  _ doing  _ something, right? You trying to do something with my Little? Huh, asshole?” 

“N-no! Of course not! No! Not at all!” The man stumbled, bowing his head and stepping back. 

_ “Daddy…”  _ Baekhyun whimpered into his shirt, resting his flushed face onto Chanyeol's shoulder tiredly.

Chanyeol glared as the man took off towards the parking lot, but it didn’t matter when he now knew what he looked like and he  _ would  _ be calling the police to report suspicious activity in the area and give an account of this.

That sounded much better than just sitting in a jail cell with broken knuckles, even  _ if  _ he kind of wanted to give the man a good punch for being a pervert.

“You. You do  _ not  _ speak to strangers, Baekhyun,” He ordered, making his way towards the coffee shop, “Repeat that “ 

“Daddy, I sorry.” 

“No. You don’t  _ understand, _ so tell me why we don’t speak to strangers, Baekhyun. Tell me why it’s not okay.” He demanded.

Baekhyun whined into his top in a way that made Chanyeol want to just drop it, but it wasn’t safe and he needed the Little to understand that.

“B.. Becu’se mean people’s….” 

_ “And?”  _

“... an cuz’... lose baby.” 

“That’s right,” Chanyeol whispered, “I could  _ lose  _ baby, and do you want to be lost, Baekhyun?”

The Littles fist curled up into his jacket with a whimper and Chanyeol sighed, turning his head to press a light kiss of encouragement to Baekhyun’s red ear. 

“No wan’ lose daddy, s-stay daddy an loves.” 

“I want you to stay with me so I can give you a lot of love too,” Chanyeol assured, “So don't go a bit crazy, baby, I know you trust people a lot, but just trust daddy and friends  _ only.”  _

Baekhyun was naive in the best way, but also naive in such an innocent way. 

It was hard to explain these sort of things to him unless he wasn’t so  _ deep  _ into wanting to be babied, so only when he was sick or just woke up in a grumpy mood when he didn’t want to be held or given sippy cups.

The times were too rare, Chanyeol never got the chance to seriously explain things to him. 

“Kay, daddy,” Baekhyun mumbled, sitting up and pouting his lips for a kiss.

“Okay. I love you too,” Chanyeol soothed, pecking the small pair of cold lips as he set Baekhyun onto the pavement outside of the coffee shop, “Now let’s get baby something warm, huh? Baby needs a drink and a nap.” 

“Mhm!” Baekhyun humphed, tucking into Chanyeol's coat with a pretty smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving on to book three~ still unsure what will be posted in what order on there, so if one sounds most interesting let me know so I can post what YOU GUYS seem most interested in!


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